The Waikouaiti water treatment plant, raw water reservoir, and treated water reservoir. Blood testing is likely to do nothing to clarify the source of lead in the East Otago drinking water, or if high lead levels in children came from the drinking water, an environmental science specialist says. Without careful control sampling, there would be no way to say if the lead levels were anything out of the ordinary. "Lead occurs naturally, and there’s always a baseline intake from food, so we all have a natural intake of daily lead. Dr Jack yesterday reassured the affected communities, saying a small number of elevated lead level results from blood tests was not unexpected.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 18, 2021 14:03 UTC