On Wednesday, water regulator Taumata Arowai specialist Tim Cadogan dialled in from Wellington to share safety insights with Southland district councillors.
The former Central Otago mayor's presentation was upbeat but also included some sobering details, such as results from recent testing showing 43 E coli notifications around the country.
"So that's 43 times that water supplies in New Zealand were essentially infiltrated by faeces. And two of those last week were council supplies."
Cadogan said it was common in New Zealand for people to think their water was fine, or the best in the country.
"Most of our water's good most of the time, but not all of our water is good all of the time.
"And if there's one thing I want councillors to take away, it's that fact. That it can go wrong. It does go wrong. And when it goes wrong, people can get really sick. People can die, and have."
Taumata Arowai Water Services Authority was set up in 2021 following the Havelock North contamination event which was linked to the deaths of four people and left more than 5000 ill.
Cadogan offered some sage advice for dealing with members of the public who were critical about water standards being too high, or costing too much money.
"Say to them … 'hey, what level of E coli, or what level of giardia, or what level of norovirus is actually okay?
"And generally people will agree that zero's the number that they want."
There were four ways of protecting against unsafe water, he explained - protecting the source, filtration, disinfection and secure distribution.
Good source water had benefits because it was cheaper to treat, while disinfection included methods such as chlorine and UV.
The final step was secure distribution, or making sure water got to the final tap in the network safely. Residual chlorine in the pipe network played a role in that.
"Because if you have a break in the pipe, bugs can get in as easily as water can get out," Cadogan said.
Cadogan served as Central Otago mayor from 2016 to 2024 before stepping aside to take up the role of local government engagement specialist at Taumata Arowai.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
