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Some supermarkets in Christchurch have run out of bottled water following a boil water notice affecting tens of thousands of residents.
Christchurch City Council Head of Three Waters Gavin Hutchinson told chrislynchmedia.com, “a number of suburbs are affected by the boil water notice – they are New Brighton, Bexley, Wainoni, Aranui and Southshore.
Residents were alerted via an emergency text message, which incorrectly listed the date as 4 February. The council later confirmed the correct date was today 14 February.
Yesterday’s sample test of water showed no E. coli present, but total coliforms were detected. Total coliforms are a group of bacteria commonly found in the environment.
Their presence doesn’t necessarily mean the water is unsafe, but it can indicate that contamination may have occurred and that harmful bacteria could potentially be present, the council said.
A tanker was sent to the Coast-to-Coast finish line at New Brighton beach, while at least 14,000 households are affected.
The Rawhiti Domain pump station was temporarily closed and council said text alerts will continue until 10pm tonight.
Some residents have since contacted chrislynchmedia.com saying some local supermarkets had already sold out of bottled water.
A Woolworths NZ spokesman told chrislynchmedia.com the company had reported heavy sales of bottled water at New Brighton and other nearby stores.
“We are working to rush in more supplies as soon as possible.”
Routine testing picked up bacteria
Hutchinson said the notice was triggered after routine testing.
“A result from routine water sampling was taken yesterday and those results came through this morning showing that there was a positive bacteria count in one of the samples taken,” he said.
“We take tens of thousands of samples every year. It’s very, very unusual.”
“Because we were shown that there was a positive count of bacteria, that’s enough for us to switch to a boil water notice. We obviously don’t take a risk,” he said.
He said residents must boil water used for consumption.
“Anything, any drinking water, brushing your teeth, the water should be boiled.”
Further testing is now under way.
“It’ll be until further notice. We’re doing more sampling to get an understanding of the scale of the contamination,” Hutchinson said.
“It’s only one location point. So obviously we’re hoping that it won’t be further spread, but like I said, the round of sampling done yesterday there was quite a few sites taken and one came back positive.”
