The Star: January 25, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday January 25 2018 17
I will vote for chlorination plan
I STARTED writing this column
last week and began with the
words “happy new year and may
2018 bring all that you hope
for. I hope that those who have
had holidays over Christmas
have come back refreshed and
ready to take advantage of all
the opportunities that our city
offers.”
When I came back to work
on Monday, January 15, I was
told that my regular column
started this week, so I thought I
could just submit it a week later.
However, on the same day, I was
given an update on our obligations
as a drinking-water supplier
under the Health Act.
It transpired that on the last
working day before Christmas,
the Canterbury drinking water
assessor had removed our secure
groundwater status.
Let me explain. The Drinking
Water Standards currently
have three criteria for achieving
secure groundwater status:
1. Bore water is not directly
affected by surface or climate
influences.
2. The bore head must provide
satisfactory protection by being
sealed at the surface.
RISK: Christchurch’s drinking water could be temporarily
chlorinated after it was found the city’s wells may be in danger
of contamination.
3. Demonstrating an absence
of past E. coli positive results.
Water drawn from confined
aquifers that satisfies the three
criteria is considered secure bore
water.
Unfortunately, we could not
satisfy the second of the criteria,
as the independent engineers
who are engaged each year to
sign off on the security of the
bore-heads would not sign off
on them this time. I immediately
asked that the recess committee
be called together, so that as
many city councillors as were
available could be briefed on the
situation and to ensure we could
get a paper to the first city council
meeting of the year.
One of the questions that was
asked was what had changed?
We were meeting the criteria before,
but suddenly we were not?
There is a view that since the
Havelock North incident, the
appreciation of the risks (both
likelihood and consequences)
has brought a sharper focus to
Drinking Water Standards compliance
and greater diligence in
signing off secure bore status.
The risks haven’t changed
– the probability remains low
and the consequences remain
high, which is why we have had
a more rigorous testing regime
than strictly required.
That’s also why city council
staff had the below ground wellheads
investigated in June last
year and why work is already
Lianne Dalziel
under way to bring each of them
up to secure status.
The issue for the city council is
that without the engineers sign
off on the well-heads, we are
advised that we have an obligation
to consider another layer of
protection in order to meet our
duty to ensure that the drinking
water is safe.
Our city council takes its
drinking water responsibilities
very seriously. And that is why
today I am supporting measures
required to restore our secure
groundwater status and the
temporary chlorination of our
drinking water in the meantime.
•If you want to ask Ms
Dalziel a question, email
mayor@ccc.govt.nz. Put
Reader’s Question in the
subject line
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News Team
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