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Karitane residents have a new reason not to be drinking from their tap water - E. coli has been detected.

Residents of Waikouaiti, Karitane and Hawksbury have already been advised against drinking water from their taps, because of lead contamination.

The Dunedin City Council reminded residents the advice since February 2 not to drink the water, nor use it for food preparation, remained in place.

The E. coli problem was detected as part of ongoing water quality testing, a council spokesman said late yesterday afternoon.

Council Three Waters group manager Tom Dyer said nobody at Karitane should be drinking the water anyway.

If any residents in the three communities were not following the do-not-drink notice, the E. coli result underscored the need to do so, he said.

Water tanks remain available in all three communities and residents have been urged to continue using them.

Only one positive result for E. coli had been returned, at Karitane.

It was too soon to say what had caused the positive reading and further testing would be carried out at the weekend, the council spokesman said.

"We expect to have more information early next week."