A precautionary boil water notice is still in effect under the advice of Regional Public Health.

This means Carterton residents and businesses connected to the town water supply are advised to continue boiling all water before being used for drinking, making baby formula, juice, ice, washing fruit and vegetables, other food preparation/cooking needs, or brushing teeth until further notice.

Carterton District Council has not received any further positive E. coli readings since last Thursday’s result. The Council is confident in the water supplied to urban residents which comes out of its treatment plant.

The Council has undertaken extensive work through the reticulation system and continued its investigation into the source of the intermittent readings of low-level E. coli.

“We are confident in our infrastructure and treatment plant procedures, but we will continue to follow the extremely strong guidelines put to us by Regional Public Health,” said Chief Executive Jane Davis.

“We acknowledge the inconvenience this has caused and we apologise for the length of time the boil water notice has been in place, but we will continue to work as hard and as quickly as we can to get the notice lifted.”

The Council is working with Regional Public Health and an independent drinking water assessor from the Central North Island Drinking Water Assessment Unit to ensure the water supply will continue to be safe moving forward.

The Council has taken the following actions since 12 March:

• We have tested 396 water samples since the initial boil water notice on 12 March. Of the 396 samples, 390 came back clear from E. coli bacteria.
• We now flush the water pipe network at an additional 22 sites – increasing from 44 sites to 66 (50 per cent)
• We have walked along 7 km of Kaipaitangata trunkline pipe to identify 2 potential sources and have rectified them to eliminate them as potentials.
• Checked back flow preventers and replaced multiple valves as a safeguard against potential faults.
• Had external engineers check the water treatment plants and checked our procedures for sampling by a laboratory expert.
• Commissioned a high-level model of the town water supply to identify water movement across the reticulation supply.
• Enlisted Leak Detection Services to check if there are any unknown leaks in the network.

The next update will be before 6pm on Tuesday 13 April 2021.

At this stage, the Council has not received any official reports of illness associated with this event.

Boiling water before use is the best way to make water safe. The risk of getting sick from drinking the water is low but possible, especially for vulnerable people. Babies, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people who have weakened immune systems are more at risk of illness. If you get diarrhoea, vomiting and/or a fever, get advice from your doctor or contact Healthline (0800 611 116).

How to boil water for drinking:

Boiling will kill all disease-causing organisms.

Bring water to a rolling boil (where bubbles appear in the centre and do not disappear when the water is stirred) for one minute or boil a full electric jug until it switches off

Cool water (do not use ice cubes to do this) and pour into clean container with a lid

Refrigerate until needed.

If you experience diarrhoea, vomiting and/or a fever, contact your doctor or Healthline (0800 611 116). For more information and to stay up to date, visit www.cdc.govt.nz/boilwaternotice

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