Northland’s Mangawhai Beach School faces E.coli issue, calls for water system upgrade

Mangawhai Beach School's latest water test once again returned a result of 1 for E.coli. Photo / NZME

Students at a Northland school have been asked to bring bottled water in after E.coli was found in the school’s water supply.

Renewed calls for urgent infrastructure upgrades have been made after Mangawhai Beach School recorded an E.coli reading.

The bacteria was picked up during water testing, the results of which had been a one but needed to be under one to be considered clear.

The school told parents tap water would be used only to wash hands, and it asked for students to be sent to school with multiple bottles of water to drink until three clear test results were recorded.

The school said the Ministry of Education was reviewing its outdated water system.

“We have been assured for over a year that an upgrade is coming, as we are not on their priority list.”

Ministry head of property Sam Fowler said the school raised issues about the reliability of the UV disinfection in their water treatment in April last year.

“The ministry’s assessment of the school’s water system to achieve compliance and meet future needs has shown that a full upgrade of the school’s water treatment system is required.”

A ministry-funded upgrade is due to be completed around the middle of the year, Fowler said.

In the meantime, the ministry has provided advice to the school to keep the current system operating reliably.

“The school has resolved the immediate issue and following retesting the water supply will be restored.”

Mangawhai Beach School principal Aaron Kemp did not want to comment further other than what had already been shared with the community through the school’s official channels.

Fowler said four other Northland schools had drinking water quality non-compliance issues during 2024. All of them were resolved.

He said the ministry was at various stages of delivering water upgrades to 12 schools in Northland.

“The ministry has allocated close to $16 million in capital funding over four years (2023 to 2027) to upgrade water supplies at a high-priority group of 80 schools nationally (20% of all schools that supply their own drinking water).”