Environmental health

Health protection officers inspect new early childhood centres and provide a health report, which is required before the Ministry of Education will issue a license for the centre to operate.   

Infectious diseases, such as gastrointestinal diseases, can spread rapidly through early childhood education centres.  Our service assists centres in managing such outbreaks.

Waikato Drinking Water Assessment Service (WaDWAS) works with territorial authorities and private drinking water supply owners to:

• optimise the safety and quality of drinking water available for public consumption
• prevent the spread of disease to the public through the public water supply.

The drinking water service seeks to maintain and improve drinking water quality by supporting drinking water providers to implement the Drinking-water Standards for New Zealand 2005 (Revised 2008) (DWSNZ) and their duties under the Health Act 1956, Part 2A, Drinking water.

Compliance reporting is done each year and the findings are published in the Annual Report on Drinking-water Quality, Ministry of Health.

We have a dedicated email address for all drinking water queries, transgression notifications, etc.

WaDWAS@waikatodhb.health.nz

Asbestos is the name used for a group of natural minerals that are made up of many small fibres. In the past, the properties of asbestos made it popular for things, such as:

• asbestos-cement cladding and roofing
• backing material for floor tiles and vinyl sheets
• insulation board for thermal protection (e.g. around fireplaces)
• textured ceilings and sprayed-on wall surfaces.

Products and appliances with asbestos content may still be around, particularly in homes built before 1984.

Asbestos is a risk to health only when it is inhaled as fine dust. The risk to health increases with the number of fibres inhaled and with frequency of exposure.

The highest risk of exposure to asbestos in the home is through home renovation, by cutting or drilling through asbestos-cement sheeting or sanding down lino or tiles containing asbestos.

Testing a sample in an approved laboratory is the only way to find out if a material contains asbestos.

If you need to get a sample tested, contact a health protection officer at Population Health.

• For cladding or flooring, a sample approximately the size of a $2 coin is required.
• For decorative ceiling finishes, a minimum of one teaspoonful is required, and this should include any sparkly material.
• Samples should be obtained in accordance with Approved Code of Practice Management and Removal of Asbestos.

Any samples you deliver or take to the health protection officer should be in a sealed envelope or in a zip-lock bag.

What should you do if asbestos is in your home?

If there is asbestos or Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) confirmed by laboratory analysis in your home, you should talk with a health protection officer about your options:

• leaving it as it is, disturbing it as little as possible
• sealing, encapsulating or enclosing it
• removing it.

The Ministry of Health strongly advises that you use certified contractors to remove ACMs as exposure to asbestos fibres is a danger to health. 

If you still intend to do the work yourself make sure you follow the advice in the Ministry of Health booklet Removing Asbestos From the Home.

Waikato DHB Public Health works with the Waikato Regional Council and local councils to assess the suitability of monitored lakes and coastal high-use beaches for recreational use.

• Waikato Regional Council routinely tests the water quality, weekly, at a range of coastal, river and lake recreation sites in the region over the summer months each year.
• During the winter months some of the lakes continue to be monitored for cyanobacteria, but less frequently.

Bacterial monitoring 

These results are available on the Land, Air, Water, Aotearoa (LAWA) website, which gives an indication of whether these locations are safe for swimming. We recommend that you check this website before swimming in these areas.

• Test results are only a snapshot of conditions at the time of their collection, and bacteria levels can change rapidly in response to environmental conditions.
• Heavy rain can lead to contamination from rural and urban run-off.  It is recommended that people avoid swimming in rivers, streams, lakes and beaches for 48 hours after heavy rainfall.

Toxic algae monitoring

A number of the region’s lakes are monitored for cyanobacteria (a toxic algae). Results of this testing are available on the Waikato Regional Council website. 

• Look out for warning signs at the lakes
• Check  Waikato DHB public health alerts 
• Where warnings are in place people are advised to avoid contact with the water, and to shower and change their clothes as soon as possible afterwards if they do have contact with the water.
• Don’t swim in any water that is murky or has a musty smell, or if the river/lake bed or rocks are covered in leathery mats of black/brown algae. These are signs of potentially toxic algae or bacterial contamination.