Science Media Centre

Supplying un-chlorinated water is like driving without a seatbelt, writes water treatment engineer Iain Rabbitts in the NZ Herald, it’s not longer safe – if it ever was. An excerpt (read in full): It wasn’t safe to drive a car then without seatbelts but people had been doing it for over 35 years – why […]

An outbreak of gastroenteritis – likely caused by Campylobacter – has sent at least 20 people to hospital in Hawke’s Bay. Hawke’s Bay District Health Board Medical Officer of Health Dr Nick Jones has said the majority of people presenting with the illness were affected by Campylobacter, a water-borne bacteria. Dr Jones has told media that animal faeces […]

Traces of the weed killer metsulfuron-methyl were detected in dams that supply 20 per cent of Auckland’s water, causing them to be closed from May to September this year. The herbicide had been sprayed on forestry blocks near to the dams in the Hunua Ranges and, after unexpected heavy rain, leeched into the water. Watercare Services,  the Auckland water supplier responsible for […]