Talking Point: Call for a re-think about Napier's water supply

Group asks why we are using chlorine if it is not effective? Photo / File

The financial uncertainty facing our community as a result of Covid-19 makes it imperative that Napier City Council does not waste ratepayers' money.

Council has allocated $240,000 for consultants to investigate what would need to be done to provide a chlorine-free water supply for Napier city.

That is a lot of money and ratepayers will want to know that the consultants are doing thorough research and getting information from knowledgeable local sources.

There has been a loss of institutional knowledge at Napier City Council. It is crucial that the consultants go beyond the current staff to get the full picture of Napier's water network.

Guardians of the Aquifer met in July with the council's consultants.

They told us that "Napier has had transgressions" and that Napier needs to replace ageing reservoirs.

We were not impressed. The fact is that the very minor transgression in the Enfield Rd reservoir in 2017 was based on what we believe is a flawed testing regime.

The reality is that the so-called "positive" result at the Enfield reservoir measured just above zero. In other words, it was "on the edge of detection" and there was no proof of contamination, according to NCC's water manager. The daily tests over the next 10 days all returned negative.

All the so-called "transgressions" in 2017 were on the edge of detection because the council had changed to an overly sensitised testing regime after the Havelock North outbreak. If the council had thought it was a serious breach, they would have issued a Boil Water Notice. They didn't.

Instead, they just put chlorine in the whole network.

Now the council's newly-appointed consultants have devised an expensive, lengthy programme of work, based on the same faulty assumption.

They are recommending the council build two treatment plants.

But why would we rush into expensive treatment plants, especially if we don't need them?
Napier's seven operational bores have Secure Bore status and the council's water manager has confirmed the bores do not need any UV treatment.

Those treatment plants will be handy if the Ministry of Health directed water providers to add fluoride to municipal supplies. We could end up with a double dose of chemicals - chlorine and fluoride.

The Netherlands have never chlorinated their groundwater, except in rare emergencies.

It used to be the same in Napier until everyone panicked after the 2016 Havelock North gastro outbreak, and the council in Napier added chlorine.

The council say their testing for disinfection by-products shows "there are no disinfection by-products in Napier's water supply". But the council doesn't have the tools to find DBPs.

The consultants' chemistry expert told us that: "Even with the chlorination system Napier has now, you won't have a DBP problem."

However, research published in January 2020 from Johns Hopkins University found that water utilities "don't have the tools to find DBPs" and that "more than 700 DBPs have been identified, including suspected and known carcinogens".

Guardians of the Aquifer is lobbying for chlorine-free water because of the harm caused by toxic disinfection by-products. It is also the reason why the Dutch decided in 1975 to investigate safer methods of water provision. Their priority is the health of their population.

The consultants say that Napier will need backflow preventers. But the microbiologist told us: "If you have a cross-connection, the residual chlorine will do little to protect from contamination."

So why we are using chlorine if it is not effective?

Until last year the council appeared to be on the right track.

But the programme outlined by their consultants is going to derail us.
Time for a re-think.

- Pauline Doyle is a spokeswoman for Guardians of the Aquifer