The Health (Drinking Water) Amendment Bill makes small technical changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of existing drinking-water legislation. The Bill follows the recommendations of the Inquiry into Havelock North Drinking water:

https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/environmental-health/drinking-water/government-inquiry-havelock-north-drinking-water-outbreak-

NZNO supports safe drinking water as a fundamental of public health. We support any legislative change that enables greater responsiveness to emerging risks to water quality, especially given increasing stressors on systems via the environment (e.g. intensified agriculture; extreme weather events from climate change).  We particularly support legislation that enables a stronger, “joined –up” public health workforce infrastructure to manage risks.

Member feedback is sought  on this legislative change, for example, your experiences of:

• the capacity of the public health workforce to effectively manage health risks concerning drinking water quality;
• health impacts of poor water quality (e.g. giardia, cryptosporidium, blue baby syndrome),
• changes in the perception of risk regarding drinking water (e.g. since Havelock North); and
• smaller communities you are aware of struggling to upgrade water supplies.

Please find the Bill here: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/BILL_78676/health-drinking-water-amendment-bill

Send feedback to diana.cookson@nzno.org.nz by 14 December 2018.