300,000 more have access to safe water, survey finds

The number of New Zealanders with access to safe drinking water rose by 300,000 last year, a Health Ministry survey shows.

The ministry's annual review of drinking water quality, released today, showed 78 per cent of New Zealanders had safe drinking water last year, an 8 per cent rise on 2001.

The number of people served by zones complying with safe standards rose to 2.72 million in 2002, a 300,000 rise on the previous year.

Ministry principal public health engineer Paul Prendergast said the survey did not mean the rest of the population had unsafe drinking water, but that the ministry could not prove it was safe.

"Most of the supplies that didn't comply were from private domestic supplies or small rural supplies that were either not monitored or were monitored inadequately," Mr Prendergast said.

In general, monitoring requirements were tougher for supplies serving larger populations but less stringent for the smaller supplies.

One of the pleasing aspects of the survey, which covered 3.5 million New Zealanders, was that school compliance had nearly doubled from 55 schools in 2001 to 107 last year, he said in a statement.

The microbiological quality of drinking-water was important to maintaining public health.

Contaminated water can spread a range of stomach diseases, including campylobacter, salmonella, E coli, giardia, and cryptosporidium.

The 2002 review was the second report using the new drinking water standards and the first to include chemical and microbiological compliance.

- NZPA