BOIL ALERT EXTENDED UNTIL THE WEEKEND

ABOUT 1000 South Hobart residents will have to boil their water until at least the weekend because of the detection of E.coli in the area’s supply.

TasWater believes it has found the source of the contamination and is working to fix the problem — but last night said it could take another day or two yet.

Two consecutive laboratory tests need to come up negative for E.coli before the contamination alert can be lifted.

Service delivery general manager Bennie Smith said workers believed the source of the contamination was the upper Waterworks reservoir at Ridgeway near South Hobart.

“There may have been some raw or untreated water that has got into the supply either from Mt Wellington or Lake Fenton,” Mr Smith said.

ABOUT 1000 South Hobart residents will have to boil their water until at least the weekend after the detection of E.coli in the area’s supply.

TasWater believes it has found the source of the contamination that hit homes and businesses and is working to fix the problem.

Department manager Lance Stapleton said about 1000 properties were affected but the utility had rectified the issue by isolating areas and flushing the system with clean water. He expected the alert to be lifted this weekend, subject to testing.

Investigations into why the outbreak occurred were continuing, Mr Stapleton said, but he denied the state’s capital had experienced a Third World problem.

“This does happen in first world countries,” he said. “When we look into the full investigations ... then we’ll know whether or not this could be prevented.”

As part of weekly testing, TasWater took a water sample from Cascade Rd on Tuesday morning and by the afternoon the issue had been isolated.

A laboratory at Selfs Point confirmed the presence of E.coli on Wednesday morning, as the sample had to incubate for 18 hours before testing.

TasWater service delivery general manager Bennie Smith said workers believed the source of the contamination was the upper Waterworks reservoir at Ridgeway near South Hobart.

“There may have been some raw or untreated water that has got into the supply either from Mt Wellington or Lake Fenton,” he said.

More water samples were sent to Selfs Point yesterday.

Mr Stapleton said two consecutive tests, which also take 18 hours, needed to come up negative for E.coli before the alert could be lifted by the Department of Health.

“All residents were doorknocked on Wednesday evening about the issue and the rigorous testing was the reason people were notified on Wednesday and not Tuesday,” Mr Stapleton said,

“We used testing ... to make sure we didn’t over-notify so we narrowed it down to the customers that were affected,” he said.

The boil water alert follows a similar one for Risdon Vale in November last year. Health Minister Michael Ferguson said it was another reason the Government needed to take over TasWater.

“We’re really disappointed again to see a boil water alert in a capital city suburb in Tasmania,” he said.

“It does again indicate why the Government went to the election with a policy to get infrastructure fixed sooner and to bring our prices down.”

Mr Stapleton refused to comment on the takeover.

But Labor’s health spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said: “There’s nothing to say a change of ownership would change the likelihood of these contaminations happening.”

Hobart Lord Mayor Ron Christie said the council, which is one of the owners of TasWater, had faith in the utility.

The Department of Health says consuming unboiled water could lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps but no cases had been reported. More information is available at www.taswater.com.au.

AS a parent and nurse with a career in public health, I am appalled with the AFL/TSL decisions following deliberate on field assaults.

If similar criminal acts were to occur off the field, larger penalties or incarceration would be applied. How does a couple of weeks off playing football deter this behaviour?

There seems to be no consideration for the impact on the victim. These in- tentional hits can cause serious harm and even death.

The AFL/TSL need to make a stance and have a zero-tolerance policy with harsher penalties. Education and awareness to all AFL players should be mandatory about outcomes of dangerous behaviour on the field and the effects a punch can have.