Nelson city's systems could handle quake

Nelson city's drinking water supply and sewerage systems have ample backup for a Civil Defence emergency but people should still be prepared to fend for themselves, city council technical services senior executive Alec Louverdis says.

He said he had been watching with interest how Christchurch coped in the aftermath of the 7.1-magnitude earthquake early on Saturday, and was satisfied that Nelson city's contingency would be adequate in a similar situation.

It helped that the city's water supply was gravity-fed, Mr Louverdis said.

"If something did happen, such as the damage caused to the water pipeline by the windstorm in 2008, we could still feed the city because we have two water sources, being the Roding catchment and the Maitai dam. If we lost feed from the dam, we can still feed from the Roding."

If an earthquake broke essential infrastructure, the city had a 24-hour supply stored in city reservoirs in Stoke and above Enner Glynn.

One of the council's top priorities for the next 10 years includes an upgrade of the city's water infrastructure. The $12 million Maitai duplicate pipeline is included in the community plan.

"If something happened to the reticulation, people would have to rely on sources they had on hand, and on the storage of items that Civil Defence advocates," Mr Louverdis said.

"We would aim to get a water tanker around but we would rely on people looking after themselves in the immediate aftermath."

He said the council had contingencies in the event that the city's sewerage system was put out of action by an earthquake.

"If we lost electricity, which is what happened in Christchurch, we have generators on hand to run the water treatment plant.

"If the power was cut and the systems were damaged, we have enough portable generators on hand. We also have standby generators on hand from large contracting firms."

Mr Louverdis said exercises were run annually with contracting firm Nelmac to ensure city services were ready to respond in an emergency.

"If [water] lines were damaged, we would be able to get in and repair them quickly. We have a whole range of contractors who we have on hand immediately – we have extensive lists, contained in the `red emergency procedures manual' ... It's backed up in several areas, and several other staff have the manual."

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