Complaints about the notification of residents about a boil water notice that will be in place in Mosgiel for at least another two days has prompted officials to consider establishing a database of those who want to be personally notified if the same problem happens again.
Mosgiel residents contacted the council and the Otago Daily Times yesterday morning after learning from a news article a boil water notice had been issued for the town the day before.
Dunedin City Council business support team leader Narelle Barbour said routine testing of the town's bore water supply on Thursday found low levels of an unidentified bacteria at an Eden St site.
A boil water notice was issued immediately.
The notice appeared on the council's website.
Radio announcements began immediately and were repeated on the hour on at least three local radio stations.
A story ran in the ODT yesterday.
The notices all said there was no cause for alarm.
A subsequent test of water at the site was clear, but the water could not be declared completely safe until there were three clear readings in a row.
The readings must be taken not less than 24 hours apart, which meant, all going well, the boil water notice would stay in place at least until tomorrow.
The minimal abnormality the test showed up on Thursday posed no major health risk to people and the notice was precautionary, Mrs Barbour said.
If the water problem was serious or urgent, the council would work with civil defence and drive around with loudhailers and knock on doors.
She said it was still not known yesterday what caused the presence of the bacteria, but heavy rain could sometime affect bacteria levels in bore water supplies.
Mosgiel resident Jennifer Thomas wrote to the ODT to say the council should do more to notify affected residents, especially the elderly and people with young children.
Mrs Barbour said she took on board the concerns, but it was a complex logistical exercise to ensure everyone in the town was immediately aware of the notice.
In precautionary incidences such as this, the present procedure was to use the internet, radio and newspaper advertisements, which were the quickest ways of reaching the most people.
An urgent mail drop, as suggested by Ms Thomas, would not be guaranteed to reach everyone either and would involve a longer delay.
However, the idea of setting up a database where people could list their names if they wanted to be notified by email of any water issues did have some merit.
"I take the point about the database - because we probably should have something like that - but [people would] have to come to us."
Mrs Barbour said anyone who wanted to be on such a list should contact her at the council.
She also favoured erecting signs in affected areas.
She would raise those matters at her next management meeting, Mrs Barbour said.
