"We can be confident that the water was not contaminated following the pest control operation.
''The tiny detection in the first sample taken from the middle of the aerial drop is the equivalent of finding a single gram of 1080 in a 25m swimming pool – the same size as the competition indoor pool in Whangārei,'' Reed Thomas said.
"We know people have concerns about water quality after a 1080 operation and we wanted to provide independent testing to show the water is safe and 1080 is not present in the awa in Russell Forest."
Reed Thomas said DoC routinely tested water with independent laboratories following 1080 operations to monitor water quality.
Water samples were collected straight after 1080 application when there was the highest possibility of detecting contamination.
The fear of water contamination was cited by people unhappy about the 1080 poisoning programme, along with concerns that wildlife other than targeted species would be killed.
A small number of protesters gathered near two drop sites during the operation.
A last-minute bid to seek an injunction from the Maori Land Court Taitokerau failed to halt the planned drop when Judge Miharo Armstrong ruled the court had no jurisdiction over Crown-owned or public land.
Another bid to file for an injunction did not get to the hearing stage.
Among the for-or-against commentary before the controversial Northland operation and one in the Hunua Ranges near Auckland, toxicologist Dr Belinda Cridge said she would be prepared to drink the water after a 1080 drop.
Cridge said there were higher levels of toxic chemicals in many common household products.Because of the high solubility of 1080, she calculated she would need to drink around 70,000 litres in one sitting to reach the minimum toxic level.
''Our bodies, and the bodies of plants and animals, are designed to metabolise and excrete water soluble chemicals. They don't stay in our body.''
