Latest news with #boilwaternotice
RNZ News
20-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Tenth anniversary of Kaeo boil water notice
health rural 15 minutes ago This month Kaeo is marking a ten-year anniversary. But it's not a milestone anyone's celebrating, because it's the 10th anniversary of the Far North town's boil-water notice. Reporter Peter de Graaf has more.
RNZ News
20-07-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Ten years of boiling water in Kāeo: 'They just can't rely on the water'
Kāeo chef Anna Valentine demonstrates the rigmarole involved in getting drinkable water. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf It has been 10 years since residents in the small Far North town of Kāeo were placed under a boil-water notice - but it is not a milestone anyone is celebrating. Chef and cooking teacher Anna Valentine, who lives on Kāeo's main street, is among those affected. She said she had never been able to drink from the tap, and at times she could not even use the water for laundry. "I wasn't able to do my washing without it turning brown, basically. And every now and then it would just be super-brown, and then it would get clearer, and sometimes it would go off, and we wouldn't know, so we'd be out of water and we'd be calling up to see what happened. It's just been a roller coaster." Valentine said the colour of the water had improved in recent years, but it was still no good for drinking. In July 2015, Northland's Medical Officer of Health issued a boil-water notice due to levels of E. coli bacteria found in the water. That notice had never been lifted. Kāeo Water supplies just under 30 customers - a mix of homes, businesses and public facilities such as the toilets and community hall - on State Highway 10, the town's main street. Rather than face the cost of constantly boiling water, the Valentines have rigged up a tank for catching rainwater and every day they use it to fill up bottles for drinking water. Valentine said she had organised public meetings and lobbied the council in the past, but little had changed. "The water needs to be drinkable out of the tap, for the kids that go to the community hall, and the people coming through town. They don't know that it's not drinkable. The businesses in town, a lot of them have installed their own rainwater tanks because they just can't rely on the water." Kāeo chef Anna Valentine says her children have never known what it's like to drink out of a tap. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Until the year 2000 Kāeo's water supply was owned by the Far North District Council. The council sold it to Doubtless Bay Water, which quit in 2008, saying it was not economically viable. It was then taken on by Wai Care Environmental Consultants. Kāeo Water operator Bryce Aldridge said it was difficult keeping up with ever-changing drinking water standards, especially for a small scheme like Kāeo's. "And the government's not assisting with the upgrading that's needed to meet those standards, because of the size of plant that we are." Aldridge said he had never put up the price of water, and only a small minority complained about the quality. "It's actually only one client … I have spoken to the other clients, and this is their fear [if the system is upgraded]: the water price going up, and the battle of having to put fluoride in our water, so a boil water notice actually protects us there." The Ministry of Health has recently ordered the Far North District Council to add fluoride to its Kerikeri and Kaitāia town water supplies, but a spokesperson told RNZ the ministry did not order fluoridation of privately-owned water supplies. Aldridge said the discolouration was caused by iron and manganese naturally present in the source water from the Waikara Stream. Removing iron and manganese completely was difficult and required multiple treatment stages. He said the next step for the water scheme would be to move the plant to a new location, and introduce UV treatment. He told RNZ he had secured a new location just last week, but that had yet to be confirmed. Kāeo's private water treatment plant, on School Gully Road, draws from the Waikara Stream. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Aldridge said he welcomed media scrutiny because it had caught the attention of Taumata Arowai, the national water authority, and had bumped Kāeo's water supply up its priority list. Taumata Arowai head of operations Steve Taylor said even a small private drinking water supply such as Kāeo's had to meet the requirements of the Water Services Act 2021 and other rules. The authority had sent a letter outlining its expectations in March, but a meeting scheduled that month had been cancelled by the supplier. Expectations included boil-water notice communication with consumers, and providing a confirmed, funded plan for achieving compliance with legal requirements. Taylor said those expectations had not yet been met. The authority had set a new date of 23 July for meeting the supplier and inspecting the plant. Taylor said boil water notices were only meant to be a temporary solution, because over time people could forget and risked drinking contaminated water. The authority could take action if it believed a supplier was not responding adequately to concerns about unsafe drinking water or failed persistently to comply with legal requirements. That could include requiring the local authority, in this case the Far North District Council, to take over the supply. All Kāeo Water's customers are based on the Far North town's main street. Photo: RNZ/Peter de Graaf Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa pou arahi, or cultural manager, Raniera Kaio said the scheme had suffered from buck-passing between the council and the operator as to who was responsible. He believed the only way to fix it was by the council, the operator and iwi working together. "My personal opinion, indeed my professional opinion, is that the operator lacks the resources to fix it. Lacks the resources to fix it alone . It has to be a collaborative solution." Kaio said the water plant had been inundated in the 2007 floods and never fully recovered. The boil-water notice also had a financial effect on the rūnanga, which spent $300-$400 a month on bottled water for staff and manuhiri [visitors]. He said Kāeo's water woes were emblematic of the neglect suffered by many rural, Māori-majority towns. The effects went well beyond the cost and inconvenience of having to boil water or buy it by the bottle. "It's about the dignity of Kāeo, the mana of Kāeo. And whānau in Kāeo have lived with daily anxiety around whether their water is safe to drink, that really affects not only your health, your hauora [wellbeing], but it sort of affects your own self-worth and your identity as being from Kāeo." However, Kaio said he was buoyed by news that Taumata Arowai was about to meet the operator, and hopeful a solution could be found. Meanwhile, Anna Valentine just hoped one day soon her children would be able to drink water out of the tap. "I mean, we live in New Zealand, but it feels like we're in a bit of a third world country up here in Kāeo, having to go out every day and fill our plastic bottles from a water container that we collect off the roof. It's just crazy, actually." Kāeo's boil-water notice is not the longest-running one in the country. A 2024 Drinking Water Regulation Report stated 74 long-term "consumer advisories" - which include boil-water notices - were in place at the end of last year, and 20 council supplies serving a total of 7000 people had advisories in place for three or more years. "The persistence of long-term consumer advisories represents a significant regulatory and public health challenge," the report stated. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
14-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Councillor says 'nothing wrong' with Eastern Bush water despite boil water notice
The boil water notice was issued just over a year ago on 11 July 2024. Photo: LDR/supplied A Southland district councillor living under a boil water notice says he's not bothering with it because "there's nothing wrong" with what's coming out of the tap. But the council behind the notice has issued a fresh reminder to residents that the water must be boiled before consumption. Local Democracy Reporting put questions to Southland's three territorial authorities asking how many boil water notices were currently in place. The answer was just one - in the Southland District Council administered area of Eastern Bush/Otahu Flat, north of Tūātapere. Councillor Derek Chamberlain lives in one of the 54 properties affected, but says he still drinks the water without boiling it first. "I'd sooner drink our water than bloody Auckland water. There's nothing wrong with it," he said. A key factor was the turbidity - or cloudiness - of water coming out of the Wairaki River, which Chamberlain said was originally a supply for livestock that people had later tapped into. The river became dirty when it rained, and the council was not able to effectively filter the water due to hardware issues. Derek Chamberlain. Photo: LDR/supplied Chamberlain testified that discolouration was a factor, but said there was no issue with the water which he ran through a filter. "People aren't getting sick or dying or anything in Eastern Bush, I can assure you." The notice was issued just over a year ago on 11 July 2024 and will likely remain in place until 2026 or 2027 when the treatment plant is upgraded. On Monday, the council reminded residents on social media that the notice remained in place because of potential contamination from flood water. That meant there was a risk of disease-causing bacteria, protozoa and other contaminants. Water "must be boiled" for drinking, preparing food and personal use such as brushing teeth, it said. The notice is an outlier in the region. Gore District Council had not issued one since the September 2023 flood event, which it did out of precaution. Invercargill City Council had no record of a notice being issued in recent decades. LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Boil water notice lifted for most in Georgetown
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The boil water notice for City of Georgetown neighborhoods near Interstate 35 was mostly lifted on Monday, the city said. The city said only 12 customers near South College, Holly, John Carter Streets and a portion of North Austin Avenue remain in a boil water notice, which started due to a water main break. Here's the list of locations still under the notice. Mel's Lonestar Lanes Georgetown Interstate Transmission & Auto Repair Bluebonnet Trails Community Services City of Georgetown San Gabriel Wastewater Treatment Plant VFW Post 8587 San Gabriel Lodge /Georgetown Noon Lions Club Rawleigh Elliott Early Head Start William S. Lott Training Facility McMasters Athletic Complex City of Georgetown Parks and Recreation Administration Office City of Georgetown Animal Shelter Texas Disposal Systems Anyone still under the notice is advised to boil all water before use, including for drinking, brushing teeth, washing hands and face, and any other consumption. Three missing in Williamson County as evacuations continue, disaster declaration issued The notice warns that children, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems are 'particularly vulnerable' to harmful bacteria. 'To ensure destruction of all harmful bacteria and other microbes, water for drinking, cooking, and ice making should be boiled and cooled prior to use,' the notice states. 'The water should be brought to a vigorous rolling boil and then boiled for two minutes.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
Grey District asked to conserve water after problems with reservoir levels
Grey District Council says water reservoir levels are very low because of a problem at the Coal Creek water treatment plant overnight. Photo: 123rf People in Greymouth and the surrounding areas are being asked to conserve water until further notice. Grey District Council said water reservoir levels were very low because of a problem at the Coal Creek water treatment plant overnight. "This means you may notice reduced water pressure in your home or business today," the council said. "Our team is working hard to rebuild reservoir levels and find solutions as quickly as possible." The council said water quality had not been affected and it was still safe to drink. A boil water notice was in place for Greater Greymouth area for more than two weeks in April after Coliform bacteria and low levels of E Coli were detected in test results. The notice was lifted on 25 April, after checks of the water treatment facility determined the council complied with the requirements. The source of the contamination is still not known, and the council's investigation is continuing. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
