Parents fear for newborn exposure
BABY Gretel Olsen was 1 week old yesterday.
Today, she will get a blood test to check for levels of lead in her system.
Parents Richard and Rachel Olsen, of Waikouaiti, were horrified to hear some of the water Mrs Olsen had been drinking during her pregnancy might have contained high levels of lead.
Mr Olsen said it had not been an easy few days for the firsttime parents.
‘‘For a foetus or baby no level of lead is safe . . . It’s been a very worrying week.
‘‘We never even thought about the water we were drinking.
‘‘I encouraged [Rachel] to stay hydrated throughout December and January.’’
Mr Olsen said his wife and baby would get blood tests this morning, and were told their test results would be fasttracked.
‘‘We’re very worried about the outcome of those tests.
‘‘We’ve been told some of that lead is going to get through . . . You look up some of the longterm effects and it’s hard not to think the worst.
‘‘I don’t think I’ll drink the water in Waikouaiti ever again, my trust is gone. The Dunedin City Council’s sold us up the river.’’
Others in the small communities of Waikouaiti and Karitane are still reeling from Tuesday’s announcement.
Online, people were expressing concern about their children and pregnant partners’ health.
Karitane School board of trustees chairwoman Jane Schofield said there was a lot of speculation and concern about getting the source of the lead identified, the length of time they had been exposed, and what it meant for people’s longterm health.
Waikouaiti resident and political commentator Morgan Godfrey said senior leadership at the city council needed to take responsibility for the processes and systems that he believed failed the community.
‘‘This is possibly a public health disaster . . . Heads should roll.
‘‘Elevated lead levels since August, that’s unacceptable.
‘‘There are thousands of people who rely on the water supply at Waikouaiti and each and every one of us were put at risk.’’
‘‘Heads should roll’’ was a common phrase being uttered by residents of the two towns yesterday.
In response, Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins said the council and its staff were focused at present on fixing the immediate problem.
‘‘We have followed the advice of public health authorities all the way through this, just as we have with our local Covid19 response,’’ he said in an emailed statement.
‘‘There are certainly things we could change internally, and in some cases already have, but our focus at the moment is on finding the source of the contamination, fixing the problem and supporting the community.’’
A thorough review of the event and response, across all authorities, would be essential, he said in an email.
Other repercussions of the water crisis were being felt yesterday.
The Eastern Boating Fishing Club postponed its annual fishing competition at Karitane, and customers were rapidly cancelling bookings at the Waikouaiti Beach Motor Camp.
Employee Margaret Meikle said it had been expecting 250 people to stay this long weekend, but had more than a dozen cancellations since Tuesday.
‘‘It is disappointing, we’ve had this . . . impacting us.’’
The council response was more than she expected.
‘‘We’ve had staff [from the council] visiting us every day.’’
A tanker was parked across the road from the camp, and another would be brought into the camping ground before the weekend.