New Zealand: Is Auckland's drinking water system stormproof?
By Phil Taylor
This time last year Aucklanders were a hair's breadth from having to boil their tap water due to a record rainstorm. With wild weather occurring more frequently, Phil Taylor asked Watercare's boss, Raveen Jaduram, how safe the system is.
It was called the Tasman Tempest. The storm dumped a month's worth of rain on Auckland and the Coromandel in a single day.
It cost insurers $62 million. Claimants included 6450 homeowners. Also at risk was Auckland's drinking water.
Aucklanders heeded calls to save water and few realised how close the city came to a boil-water notice, with all the reputational and economic consequences to the tourism sectors that come with it.
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