Oestrogen fear for supply from river

By BERNARD ORSMAN

Oestrogen from birth control pills could get into the Auckland water system and pose health risks, says an opponent of the Waikato River pipeline.

Auckland City councillor Maire Leadbeater last night expressed deep concern about contaminants from human sewage discharges in the Waikato River slipping through the treatment process and being mixed with Auckland water.

These include oestrogen from the contraceptive pill, antibiotics, chemicals from household cleaners and trade wastes.

"We do not know if there will be long-term health effects from the presence of these contaminants, even if the Waikato water is considerably diluted with Auckland lake water," Maire Leadbeater said in a notice of motion tabled at the council.

However, an American expert in water drinking treatment, John Gaston, said the Waikato River water would be free of hormones after going through the most robust treatment of any plant in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mr Gaston, appearing for greater Auckland's water wholesaler Watercare Services, said oestrogen and other chemicals had burst onto the drinking water scene only in the past couple of years.

"We have just completed research on the use of granulated activated carbon and we find it virtually eliminates to non-detectable levels even very high amounts [of oestrogen]," he said.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency is studying a number of man-made chemicals released into the environment, including chemicals that imitate the female hormone oestrogen, to see if they interfere with glands and hormones that guide the development, growth, reproduction and behaviour of people.

The agency says unborn babies may be at greatest risk from these chemicals, although considerable scientific uncertainty remains.

Aucklanders will be drinking water from the Waikato River in two years whether they like it or not. Hamiltonians already drink water from the river.

Watercare Services will mix treated water from the river with Auckland water as soon as the $155 million Waikato pipeline starts flowing in 2002.

The council deferred debate on Maire Leadbeater's notice of motion, which asks Auckland City to support calls from Waitakere and North Shore councils to use water from the native bush catchments in the Hunua and Waitakere Ranges first and to use the pipeline only in emergencies.

The council has asked Watercare for feedback on a report just published by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment on urban water systems before debating Maire Leadbeater's notice of motion. It deferred the matter after receiving two deputations on the Waikato River pipeline.

A North Shore councillor on the Watercare shareholders group, Dr Joel Cayford, said the "best water first" policy was the cheapest and least health risk for Aucklanders.

Dr Cayford said while the water from the Waikato River would meet New Zealand A-grade drinking water standards, it covered only the 100 or so contaminants prescribed in the standards, not all manufactured chemicals in the river water.

Watercare chief executive Mark Ford accused Dr Cayford, an opponent of the pipeline, of mounting another round of misinformation, saying the Waikato River water would be treated to extraordinarily high standards that would make it better than the Auckland water catchments.

Manukau City Council last night voted to reconfirm its support for the Waikato River pipeline.