Council questions ‘impossible’ drinking water standards
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Chlorine exemption applications have been withdrawn by the Waimakariri District Council due to ‘‘impossible’’ drinking water standards.
Mayor Dan Gordon said he has raised concerns with Local Government Minister Simeon Brown about the Water Services Act’s drinking water standards, which are imposed by national regulator Taumata Arowai.
‘‘In my conversation with the new minister I raised that it is almost impossible to achieve an exemption under the new standards, so maybe it is something that needs to reviewed,’’ he said at a council meeting on Wednesday.
The council voted to withdraw its applications for chlorine exemptions for the Rangiora, Kaiapoi, Oxford urban and Waikuku Beach drinking water supplies for now, and to write to Brown asking him to reconsider the standards.
An application for the Cust water supply was declined last year, while the Woodend-Pegasus exemption application is still being considered.
Three Waters manager Kalley Simpson said the council would have a better idea of what was needed to achieve chlorine exemptions once it had received feedback from the Woodend-Pegasus application.
‘‘We believe our applications in their current form would be declined, based on the Cust decision, so we need to withdraw and look to resubmit when we have done the necessary work.’’
He said initial estimates suggested it would cost up to $100 million to bring the six urban supplies up to an acceptable standard to receive a chlorine exemption.
The Rakaia Huts drinking water supply in the Selwyn district has received a chlorine exemption for five years, with conditions, Simpson said.
The council opted to chlorinate all of its drinking water supplies last year, after the Cust application was declined.
But Gordon said the council had not given up.
The Waimakariri district was one of the last to chlorinate its water supplies and the had long believed it had ‘‘gold standard’’ drinking water, which was fed to deep underground aquifers, Gordon said.
‘‘We have pushed back as strongly as we could and it is clear we are going to have to do more work to comply, but we are not giving up.’’
‘‘I don’t like the position we are in, but we are obligated to follow the law.
‘‘In order to achieve exemptions, the bar is incredibly high, so we need the new Government to consider whether that is acceptable.’’
Health experts recommend chlorine to kill harmful natural organisms that can grow in water, such as bacteria, viruses and parasites, and to make it safe to drink.
World Health Organisation studies show the small amount of chlorine needed to treat drinking water is safe for people.
Chlorine added when the water leaves the treatment plant continues to protect the drinking water by killing bacteria that enters the system, Taumata Arowai says on its website.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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Further important update to all Neighbourly members
Dear Neighbours,
We wanted to update you with what we have uncovered in regards to the potential Neighbourly data breach which we were alerted to on Thursday January 1.
Over the past few days we have worked to understand whether our members’ data had been accessed without authorisation and, if so, the extent of the breach.
We have now confirmed that there was a breach of some data from our registered users. We are now satisfied that the breach was quickly contained, and we have restored the Neighbourly site and services.
Our investigations have shown that there was unauthorised access of Neighbourly data, which included our registered members’ names, email addresses, GPS coordinates, forum posts and member communications. It did not include passwords but some publicly advertised event and business addresses were included.
Following best practice, we will look to seek a court injunction against any use of the material.
We want to apologise to our members for this occurrence and any concerns it may have caused you over the past few days. We have, of course, addressed the issue that allowed the theft to occur, and we are satisfied that the site is secure for use by all of our members. We will work closely with all our staff to ensure we have the most robust processes in place to prevent it from happening again.
Thank you to our members who contacted us over this period and for the understanding you have shown as we work through the complex issues associated with cyber theft.
Q&A regarding Neighbourly data breach
The Team at Neighbourly
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