Annual Review of the Microbiological Quality of Drinking-Water in New Zealand 1998

Annual Review of the Microbiological Quality of Drinking-Water in New Zealand 1998

Date of publication: October 1999

Background

The objective of this project is ‘to assess national compliance of community water supplies with microbiological drinking-water standards’. By identifying various deficiencies in microbiological water quality, this report helps to implement the strategy to improve public health by reducing the risk of waterborne disease.

The Annual Report on the Microbiological Quality of Drinking-Water in New Zealand 1998 covers the third year when microbiological quality was assessed using the Drinking-Water Standards for New Zealand: 1995 (DWSNZ:1995). The information on the microbiological quality of drinking-water was obtained through public health service providers (PHSPs) using questionnaires that sought data concerning surveillance and monitoring programmes carried out by PHSPs and water suppliers respectively. Water suppliers fall into two groups: local authorities (LAs) or local authority trading enterprises (LATEs), and private organisations or communities responsible for the operation of their own drinking-water supplies. The water suppliers are responsible for water quality monitoring, whereas the PHSP carries out surveillance of the management of drinking-water quality in the health district.

The survey sought information about both water treatment plants and distribution zones. It should be noted that the term ‘treatment plant’ refers to the point at which water enters the distribution system, irrespective of whether it is treated or not.

In addition to microbiological quality information, the questionnaire sought information about the water treatment processes in use and the intentions of the water suppliers with regard to the implementation of the DWSNZ:1995. The intent of seeking this information was to gain an insight into factors that may result in poor microbiological water quality.

Document availability

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It is also available on this website as a series of PDF files below.

Report

(PDF, 274 kB)

References and Appendices

(PDF, 541 kB)

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