Information for commercial operators

Food and beverage operators

If you are a food operator affected by the boil water notice, we appreciate it is a difficult time to manage your business.

You don’t need to close but you do need to follow the section in either the Simply Safe and Suitable Template Food Control Plan or your National Programme Guidance for Managing Water Supply/Suitable Water and When Something Goes Wrong.

Remember:

• Ice that has been made with water that has not been boiled must not be used.

• Fizzy drinks dispensers that are connected to the water supply must not be used

• If you have a dishwasher that has a hot wash (70 degrees C or above) or a sanitising cycle this is generally safe to use

• Remember to use boiled water for hand washing, having good handwashing practices is essential to prevent spread of disease.

• Ensure that food handlers who have symptoms of a tummy bug (vomiting and diarrhoea) do not work with food and they need to seek medical advice if they have had vomiting or diarrhoea two or more times or have been sick with a tummy bug for more than 24 hours. 

• Provide any additional training or support to staff.

If you have any questions please email our friendly Environmental Health Team on environmentalhealth@qldc.govt.nz  

Advice on coffee machines

Many operators have requested further clarification on the use of Coffee Machines.

The advice from Taumata Arowai on their website does state not to use Coffee Machines. 

Our advice is as follows:

• If you do wish to continue to offer Coffee, review the option of disconnecting from the main water supply and connect to containers of pre-boiled water (or water from another Council Reticulated source that is not subject to a boil water notice).  Ensure that any water containers or additional hoses are cleaned and sanitised.

• If you decide to continue to use the QLDC water that has a boil water notice in place - it is essential that you have made a risk assessment of the temperature of the water at the dispensing point, the temperature must be at least 75 degrees and have been at this temperature for a minimum of 15 seconds.

Further advice on handwashing

We have received further clarification from the Medical Officer of Health and Handwashing and this can be applied to Customer Toilet Facilities, the risk as discussed is low from using normal water supply but you may wish to continue to use boiled water for Food Handlers hand washing.

The Medical Officer of Health has conveyed that it is OK to use soap and town water to wash hands and make sure to dry hands properly (always good practice). The risk of infection from using the town supply water, even if it is contaminated with Cryptosporidium, is very low. 

The infectious dose is approx. 130 oocysts (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7870140/). With soap and drying it should remove most cysts, if there are any,  on the hands from the water, if indeed it is contaminated.  It is resistant to Antibacterial Hand Gel.

The risk of not washing hands would be greater for transmission of other pathogens. 

Accommodation providers:

Please ensure your guests know the boil water notice is in place.  

We have provided downloadable resources you are welcome to use: 

• Boil water notice poster

• Wash hands thoroughly poster

• Boil water notice handout for accommodation providers

• General info poster

A water tanker is in place on Athol Street as a source of safe supply for affected businesses and a filtered water trailer is in place on Marine Parade for water bottle refills.

How to access and use

Those accessing the water will need to bring their own vessels to fill. There are taps on the side or end of the tanker. The tankers stations are primarily for people who struggle to boil enough water for their daily needs due to the volume or their specific circumstances.

• The water bottle refill station will be maintained and refilled by Council staff.

• The tankers will be maintained and refilled by SJ Allen.

Important message to businesses: Please consider others when you take water

While there aren’t any rules in place about how much water you can take, please be mindful of others and use this supply sensibly and respectfully so everyone can have a share of what they need.

Please note that security will be on site at Athol Street to support this offering.

All these water fill stations will be included on the cleaning regime by custodians and QEC duty staff.