Kaikoura’s Water Polluted

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32252, 21 March 1970, Page 46

Kaikoura’s Water Polluted

' Parts of the Kaikoura high-pressure water supply . show severe pollution] and . residents have been asked to boil all drinking water. Any /water used for cooking ' should be raised to at least 170 degrees before or during the cooking. Two batches of samples] ..from the town supply /recently submitted to the! Government Analyst have! I each contained a sample with [a high coliform content.’ The [worst sample in each case 'was taken from the same : area. , 1 Efforts are being made to discover the pollution points. ! In the meantime, the Kaikoura County Council has asked that any Water!- intended for consumption by the 1600 residents supplied by the high-pressure system be boiled. The district health inspector (Mr R. W. Sutherland) will during the week end try to find the source of the poL lution. When he has completed his work the supply i will be chlorinated on Mon!day as an extra precaution. ! ' The coliform count of the [worst samples has risen from!

25 to 1000. This water could ’cause vomiting and diarrhoea, Mr Sutherland said. A doctor confirmed that isolated eases of persons /suffering from these symptoms had been reported. Previous Warning Mr Sutherland warned the j council last October that | coliform organisms were (entering the water supply. ! Several possible -contamination points had been discovered, and until they were eliminated the ’ water would continue to show a coliform count, he said. The problem was not a health risk then, but it was a’ potential hazard. Mr Sutherland said yesterday the coliform contamination could not be removed until the main feeder line from, the intake had been modified and repaired. Mr Sutherland, asked that anyone with knowledge of broken or. damaged water pipes or a drainage problem next to water pipes should notify him immediately.