Re-think on water needed
Napier must be chlorine-free because council can’t locate disinfection by-products
The financial uncertainty our community faces due to Covid-19 makes it imperative Napier City Council does not waste ratepayer money.
Council has allocated $240,000 for consultants to investigate what would need to be done to provide the city a chlorine-free water supply.
That is a lot of money and ratepayers will want to know the consultants are doing thorough research and getting information from knowledgeable local sources.
There has been a loss of institutional knowledge at the council. It is crucial the consultants go beyond staff to get the full picture of Napier’s water network.
Guardians of the Aquifer met in July with the council’s consultants. They told us “Napier has had transgressions” and ageing reservoirs must be replaced.
We were not impressed. The fact is that the very minor transgression in the Enfield Rd reservoir in 2017 was based on what we believe is a flawed testing regime.
The reality is that the so-called “positive” result at the Enfield reservoir measured just above zero.
In other words, it was “on the edge of detection” and there was no proof of contamination, according to NCC’s water manager. The daily tests over the next 10 days all returned negative.
All the so-called “transgressions” in 2017 were on the edge of detection because the council had changed to an overly sensitised testing regime after the Havelock North outbreak. If the council had thought it was a serious breach, it would have issued a Boil Water Notice. It didn’t, it just put chlorine in the network.
Now the council’s newlyappointed consultants have devised an expensive, lengthy programme of work, based on the same faulty assumption.
They recommend the council build two treatment plants. But why rush into that expense, especially if we don’t need them?
Napier’s seven operational bores have Secure Bore status and the council’s water manager has confirmed the bores do not need any UV treatment.
Those treatment plants will be handy if the Ministry of Health directs water providers to add fluoride to municipal supplies. We could end up with a double dose of chemicals — chlorine and fluoride.
The Netherlands has never chlorinated its groundwater, except in rare emergencies.
It used to be the same in Napier until everyone panicked after the 2016 Havelock North gastro outbreak, and the council in Napier added chlorine.
The council says its testing for disinfection by-products (DPBs) shows none in Napier’s water supply.
But the council doesn’t have the tools to find DBPs.
The consultants’ chemistry expert told us that: “Even with the chlorination system Napier has now, you won’t have a DBP problem.”
However, research published in
January 2020 from Johns Hopkins University found that water utilities “don’t have the tools to find DBPs” and that “more than 700 DBPs have been identified, including suspected and known carcinogens”.
Guardians of the Aquifer is lobbying for chlorine-free water because of the harm caused by toxic disinfection by-products.
The (council)
programme outlined by its consultants is going
to derail us.
It is also the reason why the Dutch decided in 1975 to investigate safer methods of water provision.
Their priority is the health of their population.
The consultants say that Napier will need backflow preventers. But the microbiologist told us: “If you have a cross-connection, the residual chlorine will do little to protect from contamination.”
So why we are using chlorine if it is not effective?
Until last year the council appeared to be on the right track.
But the programme outlined by its consultants is going to derail us.
Time for a re-think. (they are all friends with potential food right?) also because she’s jumpy and that’s bad for her knees which has lead to her getting special surgery. She’s off lead on my property but nowhere else, even at off lead allowed places.
Are the dog ok? Are they still alive? Be super careful when letting animals run free we just dont know what's out there
Keep your dogs on
Isabella Sullivan:
Linda Hogan:
a lead, simple