Stream may be gastro bug’s source

Test results appear to make it increasing likely that the gastro bug that affected thousands of people in Havelock North came from the bores that draw the water, or a small stream that flows near them.

The bores, operated by Hastings District Council, are on Brookvale Rd, about 50 metres from the Mangateretere Stream.

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council said on Thursday that it was investigating the condition of the bores as the possible source of the campylobacter contamination that had affected 4700 people in the village of 14,000 from August 6.

Tests have shown the bug that entered the water came from faeces of cow, sheep or deer.

The bores, which have operated since the 1980s, are known to affect the small stream. Locals whose families had farmed in the area for decades said the bores had had a huge impact on the stream, which occasionally dried out completely.

HBRC group manager, resource management, Iain Maxwell said investigations following the contamination had shown there was no widespread faecal contamination of the aquifer beneath the bores, yet the bores continued to show results indicating the presence of E.coli.

‘‘This indicates there has been contaminated surface water or contaminated shallow groundwater or both getting into the bores,’’ he said.

A sample taken from the stream, about 50 metres upstream of Brookvale Rd, on August 17 returned very high readings of E.coli.

A second death has been linked to the outbreak.

The Hawke’s Bay District Health Board said yesterday that a woman in her 90s, who had campylobacter infection, died on Thursday evening.

However, the woman died from an unrelated medical condition, so the coroner would not investigate, the DHB said.

One patient remains in Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s intensive care unit and has needed further intensive care for an unrelated medical issue.

Jean Sparksman, 89, died on August 13.

Coroner Peter Ryan has opened an investigation into her death to ascertain whether campylobacter infection contributed to her death.

Hastings District Council has announced a rates cut and $200,000 business recovery package as the town deals with the situation.

The council said yesterday that it would not charge Havelock North ratepayers their regular $57 water rates charge for the current three-month period.

This was an acknowledgment of the ‘‘inconvenience and distress’’ caused to residents by the contamination of the town’s water supply, the council said.

The Government and the council also said yesterday that they would each stump up $100,000 for a business recovery package, on top of $10,000 previously committed by the council.

The money will be put into a promotional fund, established by the council, to be managed through the Havelock North Business Association.

Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said he was grateful that central government had agreed to match the council’s $100,000 contribution dollar-for-dollar.

The council will work with the business association and local business owners to determine the best use of the money, with more details to be announced next week.

Havelock North resident Fiona Hosford welcomed the rates remission but said the council ‘‘have to do more than that’’.

Some residents were looking to install rainwater tanks and drinking water filters and the council should be looking to subsidising them for that, she said.

Businesses in the town reported significant decreases in turnover as a result of the gastro crisis, with some having to close for days due to staff sickness or a lack of customers. Businesses were frustrated the Government did not declare a water supply emergency when the crisis came to light.

Dairy robbery arrests

Two men have been arrested in connection with a vicious robbery in Porirua, where a dairy owner was stabbed in the neck. The incident happened on August 6 when three people entered Astrolabe Food Market in the Porirua suburb of Cannons Creek, stole cigarettes, then stabbed owner Jacob Ismail repeatedly. The incident left him with several knife wounds to the back of his head and neck. Detective Senior Sergeant Grant Ferguson said two men appeared in Porirua District Court yesterday.

Fog foils burglars

Burglars who struck a Masterton service station were blinded by fog and fled the scene with little to show for their efforts. Early yesterday, robbers smashed a glass door and used a crowbar on the cigarette cabinet before the fog cannon quickly filled the station with dense mist. Station owner Blaine Smith said cigarettes seemed to be the target of the robbery. Smith said the cannon was set to a timer activated by the alarm and it was effective in disorienting the robbers and causing them to flee.

Suspected heart attack

Emergency services went to Waterloo train station in Lower Hutt after reports of a medical emergency last night. Metlink said trains heading from Wellington to Waterloo were stopping at Woburn and buses took passengers further north. The Fire Service was called to help ambulance staff at 6.30pm. CPR was being performed on a patient at the scene, police said at 7.30pm, but no further details were available. A source understood a man had a medical problem, possibly a heart attack, on the platform about 6.30pm.

Kitchen sink and all

More than $100,000 worth of stolen property including a new kitchen, scaffolding and electrical wires are among goods recovered in Hawke’s Bay. The property was recovered from a house, sheds and a shipping container at a single site, police said. The investigation started when an officer spotted a suspicious amount of property at an address in Ngatarawa Rd, Hastings, on Thursday.

Robbers flee empty-handed

Police are hunting two ‘‘heavily disguised’’ people who tried to rob a Napier dairy in the latest in a spate of aggravated robberies in Hawke’s Bay. Detective Glenn Restieaux said the attempted robbery of the Te Awa Dairy, on the corner of Ellison St and Georges Drive, happened about 5.40am yesterday. The robbers, armed with a crowbar and hammer, threatened two store workers, a father and son, who fought them off before the intruders fled emptyhanded. The dairy has been the target of previous robberies.