Artesian Water and Goitre

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 70, 15 December 1932, Page 11

Artesian Water and Goitre

Sir, —1 see by the Parliamentary report that the Wellington City Council lias obtained power to sink wells in the Hutt Valley for the purpose of securing an additional water supply for the city. It is, of course, well known that the water in the Hutt Valley is of an artesian nature, and the controversy on the incidence of goitre in its relation, to artesian water supplies will not yet be forgotten. If I remember rightly the figures went to show that goitre was more prevalent in those, districts in which the domestic water supply was drawn from artesian sources.

It would be reassuring if the ratepayers were informed that the City Council had had this in mind, and that the citizens of Wellington will be subjected to no risks in tbe matter. It may be possible to treat the water chemically to make up the deficiency’ in certain elements. In any case, if the supply is brought to Wellington should it not be run into our main source of supply so that, no one will have to drink purely, artesian water What have our medical authorities to say on the subject?—l am. etc., CAUTIOUS.

Wellington, December 5. [The above-mentioned letter was referred to the Department of Health, who advise that analyses of the potable water of the Wellington and Hutt Valley have been made, aud it has been found that tbe water has substantially the same proportion of iodine no matter what the source. Therefore, on the basis of iodine content, it would appear that there is no advantage, or disadvantage in the use of artesian water from the Lower Hutt as compared with upland surface water from any of the three Wellington supplies. It is a fact that certain localities in New Zealand which depend upon water from artesian wells have a relatively high incidence of goitre, but at the same time there are other districts which draw upon water from upland surfaces in which the goitre incidence is almost, if not equally, as high. There is, therefore, no objection on health grounds to the Wellington City Council drawing upon the artesian services in the Hutt Valley for part or‘the whole of this water supply.]