Gisborne city water supply is safe

Gisborne District Council says the Gisborne city drinking water supply is safe and free from faecal contamination. Data reported by the Ministry of Health does not mean the Gisborne city water supply is contaminated. There is no health risk to people using the water supplied within Gisborne city.

A Ministry of Health report released this week has stated that only 3% of the people in the Gisborne city area drink water fully complies with the national drinking water standards.

Council’s chief environmental health officer Sarwan Kumar says that Gisborne city treated water comes predominantly from Waingake treatment plant. This water is supplemented in dry summers from the Waipaoa treatment plant. “These plants were not considered compliant for the reporting period of July 2008 and June 2009. Technical issues about verification of chlorination processes required under revised standards have caused this reported result. Additional verification data has since been provided to the Ministry of Health drinking water assessor. We are satisfied that the chlorination processes at the treatment plants fully meet compliance for control of bacterial water quality”, Mr Kumar says.  

Water quality supplied within Gisborne city is monitored frequently to ensure the water is safe to drink. 140 samples were tested for faecal related contamination between July 2008 and June 2009. No sample had bacterial contamination. The city supply has tested free of bacterial contaminants for a number of years.

The Ministry of Health has also reported that 91 percent of people in the Gisborne district receive water that meets compliance with bacterial quality set out in the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards. The Gisborne city supply is the largest of these compliant supplies. 

Dr Geoff Cramp medical officer of health for Tairawhiti added that the report published by the Ministry of Health is really talking about technical issues not the quality of the water itself. “It is very reassuring for our whole community to know that Gisborne District Council does over 140 water sample tests every year looking for contamination of the water supply; the council cannot recall a single failure in this testing for the last 10 years. We can all be assured that our Gisborne drinking water is safe”.