First listen to August 20th 2016 and follow the link to Aug 13th for background to the water contamination. About 5,000 people became ill as a result of the contaminated water. One elderly woman died and a 40-year old woman is still in hospital with a potentially serious condition.
However, the council has now advised people they do not need to boil the water any more. The water is now chlorinated.
The government has set up an inquiry to find out three things: how the water became contaminated, whether the local and national governments managed the problem adequately, and most importantly to find out how to make improvements so that this does not happen again in Havelock North or elsewhere in NZ. Many other councils have similar water supplies where the water comes from deep aquifers in the ground and is filtered by gravel.
The inquiry team is headed by a retired judge, the former Director General of Health and an engineer who is an expert on water. They have to report back by the end of May next year.
Vocabulary
• potentially – possibly, could develop
• adequately – sufficiently, enough
• aquifers – underground water
• gravel – coarse sand, small stones
• former – the one before the current one, ex-Director General of Health
• report back – write a report for the government