- Delivering Drinking Water by Tanker: Requirements
- Reticulated Network Drinking-water Suppliers
- Issues Relating to Single Households
New Drinking Water Bill in Pipeline
Government intends to introduce a new Bill on drinking-water safety in 2004, intended to ensure that drinking water should be: potable (i.e., safe); wholesome; and meet reasonable consumer expectations in terms of appearance, taste and lack of odour.
A particular focus of the Bill is helping rural communities. From the Ministry of Health's electronic database on network reticulated drinking-water supplies in NZ - details of which are published in the Ministry's annual grading of water supplies - it is known that:
- 11 percent of the NZ population - principally in rural areas - do not have connections to network supplies, and therefore are reliant for drinking-water on sources such as roof collection via storage tanks, or from bores or watercourses, etc. In some cases, drinking-water supplies are supplemented by delivered water from suppliers who use road tankers; and
- a further 13.6 percent of NZers live in areas where there are reticulated network drinking-water supplies, but where these do not meet the requirements of the "Drinking-water Standards for NZ 2000". These are almost all small network supplies serving urban populations of less than 5000.
Delivering Drinking Water by Tanker: Requirements
The draft legislation proposes that drinking-water suppliers who use tankers would be required to source all their water from a registered drinking water supply source (which may be their own but could be that of a network supplier), and have a public health risk management plan which would:
- be a standard health risk management plan based on Ministry of Health guidelines, or a non standard health risk management plan; and
- have a system of annual registration plus documentation in respect of each tanker, and/or each trailer unit.
Over recent months, the Ministry of Health has been working with the NZ Water and Wastes Association (NZWWA) to:
- identify drinking water suppliers who use tankers, so that they can be provided with technical advice and assistance; and
- prepare technical guidance documents (which when finalised will be on both the Ministry of Health and the NZWWA websites).
The Ministry has also been working together with NZWWA and other groups to ensure that requirements for tanker operators are more clearly identified in the current revision of the "Drinking-water Standards for NZ 2000", than previously. Rural sector interest groups and road transport groups will be consulted on these standards early in 2004.
Reticulated Network Drinking-water Suppliers
The draft legislation will require full compliance by all reticulated network suppliers. Small and very small reticulated suppliers will have up to five years to become compliant. The five year period will start from the date when the legislation is enacted.
Issues Relating to Single Households
The Ministry of Health's technical work on drinking-water standards is intended to be translated into video and other forms of advice capable of being used by ordinary rural households. Simple measures such as having a household drinking water storage tank, roofed to protect it against bird droppings and other contaminants, and flushing out the water storage tank once a year to avoid build-up of sediment, are things that ordinary householders can do to lessen the risk to themselves and their families from waterborne disease.
Another measure of safety is ensuring that transport operators who top up household storage tanks are made aware of ways this can be done to reduce the risk of any sediment in the bottom of the tank being stirred up.
For further information on drinking water issues, readers are referred to the Ministry of Health website at www.moh.govt.nz or contact: Murray Darroch, Ministry of Health, tel (04) 495 4353, or email murray_darrroch@moh.govt.nz or Michael Taylor, Ministry of Health, tel (04) 495 3019, email michael_taylor@moh.govt.nz |
Contact for Enquiries
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
Pastoral House
25 The Terrace
PO Box 2526, Wellington
Tel: 0800 00 83 33
Fax: +64 4 894 0720
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