Nelson Water May Be Contaminated

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32391, 2 September 1970, Page 1

Nelson Water May Be Contaminated

(New Zealand Press Association > NELSON, September 1. Nelson City residents are advised to boil all drinking water by the acting Medical Officer of Health (Dr D. A. Andrews) who is in the city from Christchurch.

He said tonight that daily water sampling, started at the beginning of the emergency, had indicated a slight degree of pollution.

“This is not unexpected after heavy flooding and it is known that many sewers in the city have been damaged by the floods,” said Dr Andrews.

“This raises the possibility, even though slight, of contamination of drinking water by raw sewage. “The present sources of drinking water with the failure of the Maitai Valley supply are the Roding River and the Brook Stream. The Roding supply is chlorinated, the Brook is not,” said Dr Andrews. “The Brook was reconnected to the city’s water system late today. Because this water is untreated its purity cannot be taken for granted. “For this reason arrangements have been made

through the Ministry of Works with the Nelson City Council and Health Department to fly two chlorinators to Nelson. “They are coming from Ohakea where they are kept for civil defence emergency and they will arrive early tomorrow. Boil Water “Until these chlorinators are in operation some time tomorrow Nelson residents should boil drinking water. “Water for other domestic purposes such as washing dishes, personal bathing and cooking do not require boil-

ing. Testing is being done in the Nelson Hospital laboratory,” said Dr Andrews. If adequate water supplies were not restored in Nelson soon, hotels faced the prospect of having to turn away their guests. “Without water it is almost impossible to maintain the standards of hygiene demanded by the Health Department,” said the manager of the Metropolitan Hotel, Mr W. S. Deerness. “We could cope with meals of a sort even having to boil all the water we need,” he said. “But with 36 guests in the house and about 40 toilets you can’t keep going very long. Many of the guests will probably move out of their own accord unless we get water today." When the gas supply failed yesterday he hurriedly in-

stalled electric stoves to supply the evening meal.

Several other hotels were in a similar predicament although some received tank supplies from Nelson Breweries tankers. Danger Ends Danger of further major flood damage to property and services in Nelson city ended this morning when the rain stopped. But engineering staff and road construction gangs were still extended to restore minimal water and other services to sections of the city.