38 | Apex Water: Cromwell WTP & Borefield Upgrade REGIONAL System Integration | Control Systems | PLC and Scada Custom Software Development | Power Distribution and Motor Control Proud to support ApexWater www.switchbuild.co.nz www.pumptech.co.nz Cromwell water treatment upgrades Apex Water recently finished the $11.8 million upgrade of Cromwell’s drinking water system for the Central Otago District Council, featuring UV disinfection, chlorination, and a fully upgraded borefield on the lakefront. T T Aimee Wilson “It is important to upgrade drinking water so communities have excellent water quality through UV disinfection to kill off any nasty bacteria that might be lingering.” Apex Water is making a huge commitment to water and wastewater treatment projects across New Zealand, and in late 2025 opened a new office in the Queenstown Lakes district to support growth in the south. The company has grown to 75 staff nationwide and has three offices in the South Island — Queenstown, Christchurch and Timaru — where it all started, along with Whakatane, Hamilton and its head office now in Auckland. Commercial Manager Steve Kroening said the new base in Queenstown shows the company’s commitment to water and wastewater treatment projects in the south, including for local authorities, developers and skifields. “It also provides locally based support to our team of qualified treatment plant operators,” says Steve. The company recently finished the $11.8 million upgrade of Cromwell’s drinking water system for the Central Otago District Council, featuring UV disinfection, chlorination, and a fully upgraded borefield on the lakefront. As the Central Otago town continues to grow at rapid speed and with more people visiting every year, the existing water services and quality were coming under increasing pressure. The CODC needed to ensure its drinking water supply was fully compliant and could cater for the future needs of the population growth and manage the risk from protozoa, following new legislation in 2022. Apex Water senior project manager Dominique Tharandt was one of the team from Timaru based onsite in Cromwell for the duration of the upgrade in 2025 and early 2026. The project was unique in that the council already had its own design for Apex to follow for the civil construction, and one of its first goals was to find out what level of water quality the system required. Determining the right amount of chlorine dosing and the equipment needed to upgrade the water treatment plant was the first priority. Dominique has also recently been involved with the water treatment upgrade for the Cardrona Village, as well as a new wastewater scheme for Coronet Peak skifield. “It’s always exciting to put big infrastructure in place,” she says, having been part of a team constructing others around the country as well, including in Raglan, Karaka village, and Braemar Springs,” she says. “It is important to upgrade drinking water so communities have excellent water quality through UV disinfection to kill off any nasty bacteria that might be lingering.: “It was very rewarding working in Cromwell for almost a year. “The whole team comes together because of having that shared vision.” Apex Water was established in 2009 by Matt Savage and Steve Kroening and has continued to expand across many industries. The multidisciplinary team has a proven track record of achieving strong outcomes for clients and successfully delivering projects across the length of New Zealand. With an increasing focus on the very high costs of delivering infrastructure in NewZealand, Apex sees its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) approach as key to the completion of future projects more cost- effectively and quickly than traditional procurement approaches.
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