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Speaker 1: Now more water testing has been done after elevated levels

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Speaker 1: of arsenic were found in the Waikattle River yesterday. This

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Speaker 1: of course affects the water in Auckland and also in

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Speaker 1: Hamilton water Is the authorities tell us still safe to drink,

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Speaker 1: arsenic levels are only slightly above the maximum acceptable value,

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Speaker 1: and Mark bourne Is water Cares, chief operations officer with

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Speaker 1: US now, hoy Mark.

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Speaker 2: Hey, good afternoon.

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Speaker 1: The results you've got today still showing it's safe to drink?

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes they are. In fact, we're just about to

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Speaker 2: share some good news but a little bit more widely

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Speaker 2: with the public. We just received the day's result and

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Speaker 2: for Auckland the result now is down and back within

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Speaker 2: the allowable limits for the drinking water standards.

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Speaker 1: When did you guys realize the first time that the

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Speaker 1: water levels at the arsenic levels are a little too high?

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Speaker 1: How long has it been like this?

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Speaker 2: We've got our result on the twenty sixth of in

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Speaker 2: the afternoon of the twenty sixth and we immediately communicated

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Speaker 2: that result with Tamata Rawi and then in the following morning,

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Speaker 2: once we validated that result, we then got straight on

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Speaker 2: the telephone to talk to the other users up and

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Speaker 2: down the river to see whether anyone else was experiencing

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Speaker 2: the similar results that we were getting, and at that

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Speaker 2: point we're able to confirm that there are other parties

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Speaker 2: seeing these very unusual results.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you found out afternoon of Tuesday. You told

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Speaker 1: everybody else Wednesday morning, that's yesterday morning. When did you

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Speaker 1: tell us?

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Speaker 2: There? Was very important. Once we identified that there were

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Speaker 2: a number of agencies seeing those things, we thought it

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Speaker 2: was very important that a coordinated and concise message went

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Speaker 2: out to the public. We really didn't want to confuse

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Speaker 2: people by different people saying different things, so we thought

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Speaker 2: it was very important that a coordinator result that came out.

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Speaker 2: So it was yesterday evening when a release was made

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Speaker 2: publicly available and we were able to update our website

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Speaker 2: with all the relevant information.

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Speaker 1: Mark, did you do it because the rumors were already

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Speaker 1: out on social media that there was arsenic in the water.

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Speaker 2: I'm not aware of any rumors that were out. No,

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Speaker 2: we did it as soon as we're able to. As

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Speaker 2: I said, it's really important to have a concise and

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Speaker 2: coordinator response because we really wanted to eliminate that confusion

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Speaker 2: that might be out there if everyone's talking differently.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I reckon it's slightly problematic. Don't you think it's

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Speaker 1: slightly problematic that we didn't know from you guys when

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Speaker 1: you guys had known for what it seems like a

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Speaker 1: day and a half.

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Speaker 2: No, I don't think that's the case at all. I

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Speaker 2: think it's really important to remember that there was never

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Speaker 2: any acute public health risk. I think we can take

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Speaker 2: reassurance by the guidance provided by both the Water Service

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Speaker 2: Authority and National Public Health Service.

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you because you obviously didn't know what was

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Speaker 1: going on social media yesterday, but I was getting texts

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Speaker 1: from people asking me what's up with the rumors about

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Speaker 1: arsenic in the water that was coming through at five

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Speaker 1: o'clock in the afternoon, two hours and two and a

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Speaker 1: half hours before you went public with it. Somebody went

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Speaker 1: on social media and said that her stepmum's boss was

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Speaker 1: telling them that there's nick in the water. Is somebody

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Speaker 1: else's I don't know, auntie or something. The rumors had

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Speaker 1: spread so widely that some supermarkets were already selling out

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Speaker 1: of water hours before you even went public with it.

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Speaker 2: As I say, I really can't comment on things I

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Speaker 2: don't know about. No, No, it wasn't aware. I mean,

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Speaker 2: my responsibility clearly is as chief operations officer to do

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Speaker 2: my diligent best to ensure the water remains safe to

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Speaker 2: drink for Aucklander's.

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Speaker 1: Okay, have you figured out what caused it?

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Speaker 2: No, we haven't. We're working very very closely out to say,

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Speaker 2: with all the agencies involved, and in particular with the

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Speaker 2: way Kato Regional Council. They are undertaking a range of

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Speaker 2: test results today up and down the river. We've been

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Speaker 2: able to share our results with the other agencies further

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Speaker 2: up the river and that'll help identify where, when and

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Speaker 2: what might be causing this.

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Speaker 1: All right, Hey, thanks very much, Mark appreciated. Mark Bourne,

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Speaker 1: chief Operations Officer at water Care.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.