Havelock North Drinking Water Supply Update

Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has laid charges against a party for alleged offences uncovered in the course of its investigation into the contamination of Havelock North drinking water.

HBRC has undertaken an extensive investigation into the source of the contamination and the condition of water supply bores in the area in accordance with its statutory responsibilities under the Resource Management Act.

During its investigations HBRC has found evidence of a breach of the maintenance conditions of the party’s resource consent. If a breach is proved, the resource consent no longer permits the taking of water. HBRC has commenced a prosecution against the party, alleging the unlawful taking of water from the aquifer arising from the alleged failure to meet well head maintenance conditions.

HBRC Chief Executive Andrew Newman says the drinking water contamination has had a devastating effect on the Havelock North community with wider regional impacts and HBRC is very keen to see the cause of the contamination identified and to ensure it does not happen again.

He says HBRC had more than 15 people working on its investigations. These include scientists from HBRC, and Environmental Science Research (ESR) with expertise in the environment, land use, water and climate, as well as dye tracing experts. He says their investigations have included surface and groundwater quality, the bore infrastructure, water pathways in the local environment and livestock in nearby paddocks.

18 November 2016

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