Raised bores raising standards

Sunken bore heads were found to have compromised the integrity of Havelock North's water supply.

Napier City Council is in no hurry to raise its bore heads above ground, a key failing in Hastings District Council's water supply according to the Havelock North water contamination inquiry's report.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton Bill said raised bore heads would be incorporated in the city's Long Term Plan due out next year because it was a "pretty secure water supply" and the matter not urgent.

"We have a completely different issue, we tap into an artesian which comes up out of the ground under pressure, whereas Hastings was tapped into a shallow aquifer so contaminants could pour into an insecure bore head," he said.

"Our water is under pressure so there is a natural protection - anything that wanted to get into our water would have to swim against the tide."

Bore heads would be raised "in the fullness of time" but a lesson learned from the Havelock North outbreak was the ability to quickly chlorinate water.

Napier only had the ability to chlorinate reservoir water and not into network pipes.

"I think that will come fairly soon, in fact it may be something we do as part of the maintenance programme."

Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Alex Walker said all its bores were above ground, a situation preceding the Havelock North outbreak of campylobacter affecting 5500 people.

"Work has been done recently around assessing the above-ground security of the bores and they currently meet current drinking-water standards," she said.

"We are very confident in the quality and security of those bores and will be awaiting the specific technical outcomes that come out of the review to see if there is anything further we need to do."

Stage 2 of the inquiry will address systemic issues and lessons to be learned.

Wairoa Mayor Craig Little said its drinking water was sourced from the Wairoa River upstream "so we have been treating our water for years".

The council had non-potable bores at Mahanga which were treated after the Havelock North outbreak "just in case" and all public water was now tested to a regime exceeding the National Drinking Standards.

"It has been a big lesson for everybody," he said.

Two sunken Havelock North bores were found to have deficient seals around power cables supplying bore pumps. The inquiry report said leaking seals were "much less likely" to be an avenue of infection from campylobacter-laden sheep faeces than from pond water entering the aquifer before entering the council's water supply.

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said all bores supplying drinking water have been raised except for one in Portsmouth Rd which may be abandoned after it was found to have some young water.

The Brookvale Rd bores in Havelock North criticised by the inquiry report have been capped and abandoned.

Tararua District Council did not repsond to requests for comment.