In wake of ongoing contamination within Otago settlements, the Dunedin city councilor issued a public apology on February 15, 2021. According to an article from Radio New Zealand, the apology came days after a ‘do not drink’ notice was announced for Waikouaiti, Karitane, and Hawksbury villages. The tests that led to this decision revealed critical amounts of lead in the water. The most distressing test showed levels close to 40 times the acceptable limit.
According to city officials, the situation is still surrounded by uncertainty. The committee chairperson, Jim O’Malley, noted that the possibility of false positives remains an option, and further testing is necessary. Furthermore, the chairperson believes that the process could take weeks before producing a definitive answer. Plans to replace the suspected pipe are in motion, though the timeline of the project is uncertain.
The issue exploded into the public stage on February 2nd, around fifty days after the results returned. Results were sent to a council member in mid-December, who had just taken leave until the new year, delaying action significantly. The council’s chief executive only learned of the problem on February 1st, who made the information public the day after. Now the focus of the city council is testing the water supply and the health of those who have consumed the water over the course of the last year.
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