The Dunedin City council last week issued a boil water notice, warning residents to avoid drinking water from the tap, or boil it, because of a water-quality issue, a report from the NZ Herald said.

At the time, council infrastructure and networks general manager Ruth Stokes said there was no certainty about the level of risk associated with the affected water.

"In some parts it would have been reasonably diluted, but you're basically drinking water that's the equivalent of drinking it straight out of a stream or lake,” Stokes said in a media conference.

According to the report, untreated raw water released from the Ross Creek Reservoir on Sunday entered the city's drinking water network.

Businesses were even encouraged to discard food that could be contaminated and make an insurance claim to cover the cost, council chief executive Sue Bidrose said.

Following a spike in complaints of discoloured water coming out of city taps, the council activated its emergency operations centre (EOC) as it raced to flush potentially contaminated water from the city's drinking water supply.

The affected area stretched across 1721 residential properties and 826 commercial properties in the north of the city, including the CBD, North Dunedin, Leith Valley, Woodhaugh and any area in the central city between the town belt and the harbour.

The NZ Herald said eight water tankers were dispatched to parts of the city, including George St. Normal School and Logan Park High School.


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