A planned power cut to a chlorination plant or one caused by a truck hitting power lines could both be to blame for Fairlie’s water being contaminated with E coli in the past week.
Fairlie residents have now had to boil water for six days after a notice appeared on the Mackenzie District Council’s Facebook page.
The council’s asset manager, Bernie Haar said Alpine Energy cut power to the water chlorination plant near Kimbell on Tuesday and Wednesday last week but did not let the council know at the time.
"There were two completely different events.
Tombs said residents were notified of the planned outage but because no-one lived at the chlorination plant, no-one was notified.
Tombs said the power was shut off to allow vegetation to be cleared from around power lines.
Haar said the council was considering procedures it could establish to prevent disruptions to the chlorination plant in the future and had taken the matter up with Alpine Energy.
Haar said three clear water samples in a row were needed before residents could drink water without first boiling it.
He said two clear tests had been received and a third sample was sent to the Ministry of Health on Thursday.
– Stuff