The Dunedin City Council is setting aside $100,000 to support people and businesses affected by this week's water scare, but health authorities are warning the worst could be yet to come.
The council yesterday confirmed the fund would be available to those facing ''particular hardship'' from the city's boil water notice, which would remain in place until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
Last night, the council said initial tests showed clear results from water samples taken across the affected area on Tuesday.
Dunedin City Council three waters group manager Tom Dyer said the results were within normal safe water drinking standards.
The council would review the results with Public Health South today to see if they could be classified as the first day of clear test results.
However, Public Health South medical officer of health Marion Poore, speaking at yesterday's media briefing, warned any spike in illness could still be days away.
Predicting the health impacts was a ''crystal ball question'' at this stage, but the onset of any cases was expected between three to five days and seven to ten days after the contamination occurred, she said.
While there had been no noticeable jump in presentations to Dunedin Hospital so far, ''we will have to just watch and wait and see'', Dr Poore said.
''There is certainly the potential for us to see something different.''
Her comments came a day after it was confirmed millions of litres of raw, untreated water released from the Ross Creek Reservoir had entered the city's drinking water network through a pipe previously thought to be decommissioned.
The mistake occurred on Monday afternoon and continued until the council detected the problem, and shut down the flow, about 10am on Tuesday.
It then issued a boil-water notice covering a large swath of the inner city and north end, as well as fresh-water tankers, and began flushing the network.
That work continued yesterday as council staff went door to door, making sure 1720 residential and 825 commercial properties knew about the notice.
The tests, taken from pipes and the reservoir itself, should confirm whether contaminants such as E. coli, giardia or cryptosporidium were in the water.
Dr Poore said the flow of untreated water would have mixed with chlorinated water already in the pipes, which ''does help to provide some protection''.
However, the untreated water would still carry organisms and ''the potential for disease'', making it a public health event that was ''certainly potentially very serious'', she said.
''Providing untreated water to large numbers of people is certainly up there with the situations that we have to manage,'' she said.
Council chief executive Sue Bidrose, speaking at yesterday's briefing, said the council was not liable for compensation for water quality issues or supply interruptions, but was prepared to help those in need.
The $100,000 set aside represented one week's commercial water rates, and would be made available as grants for those facing ''particular hardship'', beyond a normal weather-related disruption, she said.
''For businesses who might be struggling, we'll be having a look at how we might be able to help,'' she said.
Businesses and building owners were reminded to drain large water storage tanks to flush any contaminants, but the cost was expected to be minimal.
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull did not respond to an Otago Daily Times interview request yesterday, but in a statement later outlined the support package and praised the council's response to the scare.
It was a view backed by United Kingdom-based international drinking water quality expert Dr Colin Fricker, who is part of the inquiry into last year's water contamination in Havelock North.
Dr Fricker had been called in to advise the DCC on its contamination scare, and said its response was ''by the book'', Mr Cull said.
However, the council needed to do ''all we can'' to avoid any repeat, so Dr Bidrose had been asked to complete a review of the incident ''as soon as is possible'', Mr Cull said.
Dr Bidrose said the contamination was ''a rarity'' but staff were reliant on old plans, dating back decades, which had proven to be out of date.
The reservoir's water level had been lowered in 2010, and again since, which meant staff had to use a different valve on Monday to release further water.
The plans said the outlet was no longer connected to the drinking water supply, but that had proven to be incorrect, Dr Bidrose said.
''We're a grand old city with grand old pipes and grand old plans to match.
''The staff who made the decision to vent using this valve are some of our longest-serving, very, very good, experienced and capable members of staff ... [they] are very distraught that this has happened, obviously.''
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Sign me up for $20 thousand. I wasn't in the effected zone but listening to my other half going on how hard it was for her to be working amidst the liquid devastation, has done some serious damage to my ears!