A bit of snow doesn’t stop us!

Snow, hail or rain – Citycare teams work 24/7 in communities all over New Zealand regardless of the weather.

A great example of this work ethic is the team at Citycare Water’s Clutha Depot.

“It’s been snowing all day in Balclutha and it’s forecast to continue until tomorrow,” Branch Manager Kerrod Baldwin said on Tuesday.

“The heavy snowfall has closed most of the roads in the area, but we are collaborating with the Clutha District Council and sub-contractors to ensure access becomes available to service and maintain the region’s water supplies and wastewater network,” he says.

Some regional staff are stranded at home, but Kerrod says the crew is in good spirits with safety being the key focus due to the treacherous driving conditions and extreme cold.

The depot is located at one of the lowest points in the district with around five centimetres of snow on the ground on Tuesday.

The high-country water plants the crew maintain sit at 300 to 600 metres above sea level and are currently under up to 1.2m of snow, making access impossible.

“At each of our 10 branches around New Zealand, our staff are not only skilled at what they do, they’re also local to the area – a clear advantage when it comes to dealing with changing or unexpected events, like today’s snowfall,” General Manager Upper North and Lower South Peter Harper says.

The local team can quickly put together a strategy to ensure safe access to water assets in their community so they can maintain the continuity of water services.

“Over the past year, through the Covid-19 lockdown and severe weather events, particularly in winter, the small team in Clutha District has performed outstandingly to provide uninterrupted essential water services,” he says.

Citycare Water delivers water services all around the country, including in large metropolitan areas (Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin) and some of the smallest rural areas (Clutha and Stratford.)