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Media release from Southern DHB
Wednesday 28 July 2021, 10:41 AM
4 minutes to Read
Southern DHB Medical Officer of Health Dr Michael Butchard has recommended the Do Not Drink notice (DNDN) on the Waikouaiti, Karitane and Hawksbury Village water supply can be lifted.
This follows a comprehensive investigation by the Dunedin City Council into elevated lead levels that had been detected in the area, finding customer pipes, fittings and tapware leaching lead into the water were most likely the cause of the high lead results at the Waikouaiti Golf Course and the Karitane Bowls Club.
The most likely cause of the high lead result in the raw water reservoir is lead in sediment from a spike in water turbidity. Sediment is filtered out by the treatment process, so does not reach the treated water.
Dunedin City Council has revealed that one of its failed lead sample tests had in fact returned a level almost 40 times the acceptable limit.
Water tankers for Waikouaiti and Karitane after high lead levels found in the water.
Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
Previously, it had said the test sample taken on 8 December last year was only four times the allowable level. One of the intermittent spikes in lead levels, a sample taken on 8 December 2020, was also incorrectly stated in one earlier radio interview to be four times the acceptable level of 10 micrograms/L, the council said in a statement. In fact, at 0.39mg/L, the sample is almost 40 times the acceptable level of 0.01mg/L.
Confirmation of testing for residents of Waikouaiti and Karitane was announced by Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield on Thursday afternoon, and was welcomed by Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins. It will involve 1500 residents being given free tests, to be carried out by the Southern District Health Board (DHB), from Tuesday at a centre in Waikouaiti. A public meeting will also be held on Friday.
John Kirk-Anderson/Stuff
Dunedin City Council is urgently trying to track down the source of the lead contamination. Medical Officer of Health Dr Susan Jack said the testing aimed to understand more about the lead that Waikouaiti and Karitane may have been exposed to and to assess whether there had been any chronic exposure in the long term.
Lead in Otago water found at 40 times acceptable levels
4 Feb, 2021 05:16 AM
6 minutes to read
• Six tests show elevated lead levels.
• First test results showing elevated lead levels in August.
• Elevated lead levels at Waikouaiti Golf Club (4 times), Karitane Bowls Club (1), Waikouaiti raw water reservoir (1).
• No-drink notice issued Feb 2 (after reservoir test result received Jan 29).
• Two test results emailed to DCC on Dec 18 not opened until Jan 7.
• DCC changes email procedures.
The highest level of lead in the water in Waikouaiti was almost 40 times acceptable levels - not four times as previously reported by the Dunedin City Council.
Meanwhile, Mayor Aaron Hawkins has welcomed the Ministry of Health s announcement that blood tests would be made available to 1500 residents in Waikouaiti and nearby Karitane.