A group of South Taranaki farmers using town water supplies have been told the cost of their water is going to rise considerably.

The South Taranaki District Council intends to raise metered water rates to $2.01 per 1000 litres as of July this year to cover its infrastructure upgrade and rising costs.

The move will affect 46 farmers.   

Taranaki’s Federated Farmers dairy spokesman, Derek Gibson, said the cost of farming for the 46 farmers using town supply is going to increase dramatically.

Mr Gibson said the council has much higher costs associated with its water infrastructure and therefore needs to charge more than farmers using rural supplies.

South Taranaki District Council spokesman, Gerard Langford, says the price rise is necessary to cover the council’s costs.

“First of all the demand for water in our district has been continually increasing, government standards for drinking water which are compulsory to meet have been raised repeatedly over the last 15 years.

“We run 13 water supply schemes, 8 are urban and 5 are rural, and 96% of our farms are connected to the rural supplies.”

Mr Langford says because the council’s  infrastructure was old and was not meeting the required water drinking standards it had embarked on a 10 year programme of work to improve the situation.

“Many councils across the country are yet to face this challenge but most will need to over the next few years, so we are ahead of the game.”

Mr Langford said having 1000 litres of high quality treated drinking water delivered to your home for $2.01 is a good price.