Chances of a gastro bug affecting Whangarei residents similar to the one that made hundreds sick from the water supply in Hawke's Bay are "very slim".
Whangarei District Council water services manager Andrew Venmore said different situations existed in Whangarei and Hawke's Bay as far as the source and treatment of reticulated and bore water were concerned.
Between 1000 and 2000 people have been affected by the bug in the town's water supply, which the Hawke's Bay District Health Board says was almost certainly campylobacter.
Twenty people are in hospital, including two who are critically ill, and all Havelock North schools have been closed as the community fights the spread of the vicious stomach bug.
The town's supply has now been chlorinated to kill the bug, and Hastings District Council has brought in tankers of uncontaminated water so residents can fill containers from the street.