Test results clear, but boil water notice remains

Test results released tonight have come back clear for the parts of Dunedin affected by this week’s water quality issue, however the boil water notice is still in place.

The Dunedin City Council received the final results of the water quality test tonight, which sampled water from the affected areas around the city.

DCC Group Manager Three Waters Tom Dyer said the results showed the water was within the standards for normal, safe drinking water. 

"Staff will review the results with Public Health South tomorrow to see if they are able to be classified as the first day of clear test results," he said.

The full test results should be able to be released tomorrow.

A boil water notice remains in place across the CBD and parts of North Dunedin despite the results of the water quality tests.

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Council chief executive Sue Bidrose said in a press conference earlier this afternoon, the boil water notice would remain in place until three days of clear testing results and then an extra 24 hours.

In the mean time the council was setting aside $100,000 in water rates for a fund which the worst affected businesses could access, Dr Bidrose said.

The council would also assess whether businesses should be charged for any extra water they used to flush out their water systems.

Details of how the fund will work, such as application criteria and grant limit, will be worked out by staff over the coming days.

"The Chief Executive, Sue Bidrose, is keeping me well briefed on the situation and staff from across the organisation continue to contact residents and businesses in the affected area and put out public safety messages."

In a statement Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull said he was pleased with the way staff responded to the situation.

"As soon as they became aware of the issue, they took immediate action to stop any more untreated water entering the water supply and issued the boil water notice.

"They also got full messages out to people in the affected area.

"This is the sort of immediate openness and transparency I expect from my council," he said.

An international water expert who took part in the Havelock North water inquiry, Dr Colin Fricker,  had advised council's response, once it became aware of the issue, was completely "by the book". 

However, the council needed to do all it could to ensure such an event did not happen again.

"I therefore instructed Dr Bidrose to undertake a review of the situation and report back to council as soon as is possible."

Council infrastructure networks general manager Ruth Stokes said the first results of testing were expected to be made public later this evening, with more results to be released tomorrow morning.

The council and health authorities would have a better understanding of the risks to the public once results came in, Mrs Stokes said.

Public Health South medical officer of health Dr Marion Poore said the situation was "potentially very serious".

While there had been no spike in illnesses which would normally be associated with contaminated water, cases would normally take between three and five days to begin appearing, Dr Poore said.

The boil water notice was issued yesterday after millions of litres of untreated ''raw'' water from the Ross Creek Reservoir entered the city's drinking supply.