Risk of contamination in rural school water extremely high, report says
The report says the notifications concerned 71 schools, down from 81 in 2023.
Photo:
RNZ
The Water Services Authority says the risk of contamination in many school water supplies is extremely high.
It said it was particularly worried about the presence of E. coli in some schools' drinking water.
The authority's Drinking Water Regulation Report for 2024 said 71 schools reported at least one instance of faecal contamination of their drinking water last year.
It said that put
children at increased risk
and school water supplies were a priority area for the authority.
"The Authority has made our expectations clear to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to take action to address underlying causes and ensure safer drinking water is provided to children at these schools. We have seen some improvements, but this is a continuing priority area for the Authority," it said.
The report said the Education Ministry was responsible for 418 schools that supplied their own drinking water, most were in the North Island and were in rural or remote locations.
"The risk to drinking water quality at many self-supplied schools is extremely high, demonstrated by high incidences of water contamination. In 2024, 59 percent of laboratory notifications of E. coli were about self-supplied schools," it said.
The report said the notifications concerned 71 schools, down from 81 in 2023.
It said 24 schools "had repeat exceedances of E. coli indicating that issues are not being resolved in a way that prevents recurrence."
In addition, testing of 145 schools with roof water sources found two had "exceedances" for lead, and one for copper, and one self-supplied school twice exceeded nitrate levels.
The report said schools and the ministry needed to do more.
"Although most self-supplied schools have bacterial treatment barriers in place, the high numbers of E. coli detections indicate that many of these barriers are likely not being operated or maintained effectively," the report said.
It said the ministry had been
progressing work
to install treatment barriers in 17 self-supplied schools.
The report said at one school a UV treatment unit had been accidentally turned off.
"At the end of 2024, eight of the schools have now met treatment barrier requirements, and eight of the remaining nine have plans for installation or an alternative solution by December 2025," it said.
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