Question

Plz answer my question

Answer 1

The full story of how water gets to your tap is a long one, far too long (and probably far too confusing) to try and tell on this page. If you are really interested, you can find out more information on your Council's website
Our water story begins in places called water catchments. Water catchments are natural areas that collect our drinking water. For us in the Waikato, our main catchment areas are Lake Taupo, Waikato River, and various other smaller streams and springs.  The amount of drinking water our cities and towns have is influenced by how much water is in these areas.

In summer these are the places that we have to keep a really close eye on. Summer is a hot and dry season – and while most of us love it – it is also the time where our water supply is most at risk.

This is because in summer people generally use a lot of water – to water plants and lawns, fill up pools and to generally cool off. If demand is high and there is no rain to keep filling up the catchment area, then lake and river levels can drop – and so does the amount of water available for our towns.

Throughout the summer months, our water staff are monitoring our water use and how much water is in these catchment areas every day. When there is a long time between rain, a rain dance may be required.
The water is then pumped out of the catchment area and travels through a system of pipes until it reaches a water treatment plant.  A water treatment plant’s job is to remove all of the dirt and bugs from the water so it is safe and tasty to drink.

Water treatment plants use complex scientific systems to remove all of the dirt and bugs in the water. Each plant has the same overall job but works slightly differently to get it done. A very quick summary is – the water at the Treatment Plant has to be screened, filtered and disinfected before it is ready for us to drink.

It takes around six hours for water to go through the complete treatment process, depending on the flow.

Hamilton has one big water treatment plant that processes all of the city’s water. Waikato has ten smaller plants and Waipa has another six.