Lead response deemed timely

THE health response to lead contamination of East Otago water supplies has been deemed timely and appropriate, but a review has highlighted communication problems were a hindrance.

The review for the Ministry of Health praises the timeliness of the decision to tell residents of Waikouaiti, Karitane and Hawksbury to stop drinking tap water, from February 2.

The review’s authors said blood testing of residents to assess whether there might have been longterm exposure to lead was set up quickly and communication by Public Health South about risk was excellent.

However, they highlighted the ‘‘extreme delay’’ in bringing laboratory results to the attention of health authorities.

This had hindered the timeliness of the health response.

Much of that seemed to result from the Dunedin City Council’s original purpose of the testing, which was to assess corrosion within the network of pipes for asset management.

Routine drinking water compliance was handled separately.

Report authors Dr Heather UwinsEngland and Dr Jill McKenzie commented this was unfortunate and the council said the problem had since been rectified.

Lack of timely access to specialist advice was identified as another frustration.

Authorities had their first indication of contamination as early as August last year, when the result came back from a July 31 sample.

The council did not pass on the results of other samples in breach of the lead level considered acceptable until January 8.

One delay of several weeks occurred because an email was sent to an inbox not monitored while a council staff member was on leave.

A separate review by the Dunedin City Council is pending and the health report poses questions for the council investigation to explore.

Some results were not initially notified by the council and Public Health South did not find out it was responding to a series of lead spikes until January 22.