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Dedicated water watchdog 'must be independent' - experts

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 1 Aug 2019, 1:27PM
Photo / Getty Images

Dedicated water watchdog 'must be independent' - experts

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 1 Aug 2019, 1:27PM

The independence of a dedicated water watchdog is being seen as absolutely critical.

The government also wants to introduce new regulations to improve the quality of drinking water across the whole country.

It follows the Havelock North Campylobacter outbreak in 2016 when 5000 people got sick from their drinking water.

Lutra water consultancy engineer Iain Rabbitts told Kate Hawkesby water regulation should be moved outside the political sphere, so it's not used as a political football.

“Public health shouldn’t be competing with other political projects and used as a type of leverage.”

The regulator will set standards for all suppliers and have monitoring and enforcement powers.

Paul Evans from the consulting engineers association says it's about countrywide consistency.

He says we don't know yet whether that will mean blanket chlorination.

“It will be up to communities to work out how to meet the standards in the best way they can.

Evans says other possible treatments include using ultraviolet light.

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