How many schools, if any, currently have unsafe/contaminated drinking water?

Answer

I am advised by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) that 16 self-supplied schools are currently responding to unsafe drinking water incidents. The Ministry is supporting all schools to conduct remedial actions before reinstating safe drinking water supply. Drinking water non-compliance events are typically resolved within 2 weeks of an alert being issued to the school however there are limiting factors, largely down to: • Difficulty identifying source of contamination • Remedial solution requires planning or capital investment • Lack of resource at school to respond • Isolation/distance to deliver samples for retesting to laboratory. Where schools have persistent issues and/or are included in the Safe Drinking Water for Schools National Programme, thorough investigation and evaluation of a resilient solution is prioritised over the reinstation of regular supply. Here, the Ministry would work with the school to agree the least intrusive temporary supply arrangement (bottled water/ town supply delivery) to be utilised until safe drinking water quality is confirmed.