01 April 2007
Tap water in the Bay of Islands is still not safe to drink, and raw sewerage is still flowing in to Whangarei Harbour.
Bay of Islands Treatment plants knocked out by the last few days' floods are running again but it is taking a while for the water to reach the taps.
Haruru Falls, Paihia, Waitangi, Opua and Kawakawa are all affected.
Far North District Council spokesman Rick McCall says residents in these areas should keep boiling their drinking water until tomorrow night.
He says the water is not yet of good enough quality to drink without boiling.
Raw sewage is leaking into Whangarei Harbour after this week's floodwaters put pressure on a mains pipe.
The main at Okara just outside central Whangarei burst early this morning and has been leaking into the upper harbour ever since. It is adding to the contamination caused during Thursday's flooding.
Whangarei District Council spokeswoman Pauline Rose says crews are working to fix it but it could take the rest of the day. She says traffic diversions have been set up to speed up the repairs.