"This was a significant substantial event, [it] should never have happened and ultimately all of us hold a measure of responsibility for it."
He offered a personal apology to those affected by the outbreak - in particular to the families of the three elderly people whose deaths were linked to it - as he felt the current council, and former ones, had contributed to the "tragedy".
Yesterday council chairman Rex Graham said he felt councillors would agree they held some responsibility, as they were the governance of the council.
"There were clearly things we could have done better," he said, adding he thought the actions undertaken by the council would go a long way toward ensuring a similar situation never happened again.
"We want to be at the front end of the problem, rather than waiting for it to happen," he said.
Actions taken by the council include a region-wide review of the council's entire State Of the Environment (SOE) monitoring network.
The inquiry had found this monitoring needed to be more detailed, more focused on particular forms of risk, and that any adverse monitoring results needed to be more thoroughly investigated.
The council report stated they were seeking expert advice on these changes. It would also be working with the district council, and other drinking water suppliers on this.
Part of the council's failure in addressing the risk of contamination was identified as leaving uncapped, disused, or "risky" bores in the vicinity of Brookvale Rd unchecked.
Although the inquiry accepted the council could not monitor all 7000 consented bores in their jurisdiction, HBRC were recommended to implement a programme for the physical
monitoring of active and disused bores.
The council report stated it was taking the monitoring of bore security very seriously, and was already addressing it.
Part of this involved undertaking an assessment to establish which bores should be considered at highest risk of cross contamination as a result of inadequate bore security.
The inquiry also found that the regional council might not be able to rely on information submitted by an applicant for a resource consent.
It was found that HBRC did not take the opportunity in 2008 - when HDC applied for a water take - to assess and manage aquifer contamination risks relating to the take from the bores, as would have been part of its functions under the RMA.
In their response, council staff stated this would represent a "significant practice change" for the sector. The need for this would be tested in the second stage of the inquiry.
The second stage of the inquiry will begin later this month. The hearing for the second part of this stage is proposed to be held in early August.
Although there were more costs expected for stage two, these would be "significantly less" than for the first stage. As of May 22, the total cost of the inquiry for the council was $1.2 million.