Latest news with #DrinkingWaterRegulationReport2024
Scoop
2 days ago
- General
- Scoop
Relief As Rural East Coast School Lifts Water Advisory With New Treatment System
A Te Araroa school can finally provide clean tap water to its students after a year of 'horrendous worry' because of E. coli. 'Having clear, beautiful drinking water was like going from a third-world system to the 21st century – at the turn of the tap,' Te Waha o Rerekohu Area School principal Lynn Burrell says. Te Waha o Rerekohu Area School, on the East Coast, has gone from having the most E. coli notifications in 2024 to having drinkable water thanks to an upgrade to the school's self-supply water system. It meant the remote, rural school was able to lift its long-term 'do not drink' advisory. Burrell said they still celebrated when a water test came back as 'all clear', after the stress of not having drinkable water for a year. The upgrade freed her of 'quite a horrendous worry', she said. 'At the end of the day, it's the principal that must keep everyone safe, and it weighed heavily on me. 'Every single water test that's been done since the new system has been put in has been 'all clear' – and we are still celebrating,' she said. About 19% of New Zealand schools self-supply their drinking water, with many located in rural or remote areas, according to water regulator Taumata Arowai's recently released Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024. The school had its last E. coli exceedance notification in August 2024, after receiving 11 notifications, the report said. 'It was very positive not to have to tell every single visitor 'please do not drink the water' or tell school groups, 'you must bring your own water bottles',' Burrell said of the upgrade. The Ministry of Education reimbursed the school for the costs of bottled drinking water. Since the upgrade, the caretaker and support staff were pleased not to be lugging bottled water in and out of school, as they are 'not light', said Burrell. 'And suddenly the principal can focus on teaching and learning and not have this long-term concern that visitors, students and staff would inadvertently drink the tap water.' The school, which presently educates 74 students from new entrants to Year 13, had the national water regulator Taumata Arowai visit the school twice last year. According to the authority's report released last month, the risk to drinking water quality at many self-supplied schools is extremely high, demonstrated by high incidences of water contamination. Last year, 59% of laboratory notifications of E. coli were about self-supplied schools, which affected 71 different school supplies, the report says. During the authority's visits to the school, its staff viewed the water treatment system and guided the school's caretaker, who was also the plant operator. The authority remained in 'constant contact' with the school's principal throughout 2024 and provided status updates at monthly meetings with the Ministry of Education, according to the report. 'With the support of the ministry, the school upgraded its treatment plant in late 2024. 'As a result of this upgrade, the school was able to lift its long-term 'do not drink' advisory,' the report says. The Ministry of Education's head of property, Sam Fowler, said E. coli detections were likely a result of contamination of the rainwater collected from the school roofs or through soil contamination because of leaking pipe networks. 'The school collects rainwater from various school building roofs and stores this in seven tanks of 25sq m capacity, providing a total of 175sq m of storage across the site,' he said. Fowler said the 11 notifications came from eight incidents. After each incident, the school had undertaken servicing and maintenance of its treatment system, including chlorine dosing of its storage tanks. 'Unfortunately, maintenance alone was unable to address the recurring contamination issue.' The water infrastructure upgrade included new connections between various rainwater capture storage tanks across the school, and improvements to the treatment system, including a new UV disinfection unit and residual chlorine disinfection equipment, plus treated water storage, Fowler said. A dedicated Water Services team within the ministry provides ongoing support to schools for maintenance, regular water quality testing, and compliance reporting, he said. 'This work is part of a broader programme aimed at upgrading all schools that do not currently meet national drinking water standards, with priority given to those with the most urgent needs.'
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Health
- NZ Herald
Relief as rural East Coast school lifts water advisory with new treatment system
The upgrade freed her of 'quite a horrendous worry', she said. 'At the end of the day, it's the principal that must keep everyone safe, and it weighed heavily on me. 'Every single water test that's been done since the new system has been put in has been 'all clear' – and we are still celebrating,' she said. About 19% of New Zealand schools self-supply their drinking water, with many located in rural or remote areas, according to water regulator Taumata Arowai's recently released Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024. The school had its last E. coli exceedance notification in August 2024, after receiving 11 notifications, the report said. 'It was very positive not to have to tell every single visitor 'please do not drink the water' or tell school groups, 'you must bring your own water bottles',' Burrell said of the upgrade. The Ministry of Education reimbursed the school for the costs of bottled drinking water. Since the upgrade, the caretaker and support staff were pleased not to be lugging bottled water in and out of school, as they are 'not light', said Burrell. 'And suddenly the principal can focus on teaching and learning and not have this long-term concern that visitors, students and staff would inadvertently drink the tap water.' The school, which presently educates 74 students from new entrants to Year 13, had the national water regulator Taumata Arowai visit the school twice last year. According to the authority's report released last month, the risk to drinking water quality at many self-supplied schools is extremely high, demonstrated by high incidences of water contamination. Last year, 59% of laboratory notifications of E. coli were about self-supplied schools, which affected 71 different school supplies, the report says. During the authority's visits to the school, its staff viewed the water treatment system and guided the school's caretaker, who was also the plant operator. The authority remained in 'constant contact' with the school's principal throughout 2024 and provided status updates at monthly meetings with the Ministry of Education, according to the report. 'With the support of the ministry, the school upgraded its treatment plant in late 2024. 'As a result of this upgrade, the school was able to lift its long-term 'do not drink' advisory,' the report says. The Ministry of Education's head of property, Sam Fowler, said E. coli detections were likely a result of contamination of the rainwater collected from the school roofs or through soil contamination because of leaking pipe networks. 'The school collects rainwater from various school building roofs and stores this in seven tanks of 25sq m capacity, providing a total of 175sq m of storage across the site,' he said. Fowler said after each incident, the school had undertaken servicing and maintenance of its treatment system, including chlorine dosing of its storage tanks. 'Unfortunately, maintenance alone was unable to address the recurring contamination issue.' The water infrastructure upgrade included new connections between various rainwater capture storage tanks across the school, and improvements to the treatment system, including a new UV disinfection unit and residual chlorine disinfection equipment, plus treated water storage, Fowler said. A dedicated Water Services team within the ministry provides ongoing support to schools for maintenance, regular water quality testing, and compliance reporting, he said. 'This work is part of a broader programme aimed at upgrading all schools that do not currently meet national drinking water standards, with priority given to those with the most urgent needs.'
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Consent application for new water intake not far off
Slowly but surely progress is being made to ensure high nitrate levels in Glenavy's drinking water are a thing of the past. It was announced in December that the Waimate District Council planned a new water intake from the Waitaki River for the lower Waihao rural water scheme, which supplies drinking water to the township. Council asset group manager Dan Mitchell said there were "very few matters left to resolve before the consent application is made". "A new source has been identified, tested and we are finalising the associated resource consent application documents. "Concurrently, the pipeline between the new source and the existing treatment plant has been designed, along with the new intake." Once the consent application is lodged, he said the council would hold a public meeting to inform Glenavy residents and answer any questions they had. Online monitoring had been installed at the new intake point, near Bells Pond, to test the water quality, specifically before and after rain events. Mr Mitchell said it was up to scratch. The Water Services Authority Taumata Arowai's Drinking Water Regulation Report 2024, released late last month, revealed the lower Waihao supply was one of only two water schemes that exceeded the maximum allowed value of nitrate last year. The water from the scheme was undrinkable for 16 days in December 2024 due to high nitrate levels. It was the second time in two years residents were left without water following the same issue in 2022.
