HBRC Investigating Havelock North Groundwater

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s environmental science team is undertaking extensive testing of the Te Mata Aquifer to understand the water quality within the aquifer and to assist Hastings District Council and Hawke’s Bay District Health Board in determining the source of the contamination of the Havelock North water supply.

The township is supplied from the Hastings District Council town supply bores in Brookvale Road. The test results are strongly indicating that campylobacter has been found in the water supply, leading to an extensive gastro illness outbreak in the area.

HBRC Group Manager of Resource Management Iain Maxwell says regional council staff have been active from Monday this week undertaking extensive testing of a range of bores across the aquifer so we can understand whether this issue is localised or widespread.

He says while regular compliance monitoring had been carried out, regional council staff are also reviewing all the resource consents it has issued in the area to ensure they are meeting their conditions.

“We want to understand the condition of our aquifer and to start to build a picture of the source of the contamination so we can fix the issue,” says Mr Maxwell.

He says HBRC is working closely with the Hastings District Council, which is leading the investigation into the source of the contamination and is the water supplier to Havelock North, and the Hawke’s Bay District Health Board, which is the lead agency managing the response to the gastro outbreak.

4 November 2016

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