"DO NOT Consume" notices were placed on Pioneer's water supply two years after initial tests for heavy metals were conducted by Ben Lomond Water. Elevated levels of lead were discovered in 40 of 81 samples taken from the town and findings also showed poor compliance levels of e-coli bacteria. A public meeting will be held from 6.30pm on Tuesday, April 21, at the Pioneer Community Hall when Macquarie University PhD student Paul Harvey announces his water quality research findings from the region. Mr Harvey on Monday described lead levels in the North-East as some of the worst he has seen in Australia. Pioneer's Jenny Bellinger now lives at Scottsdale, awaiting the return of clean reticulated water to her former residence. Ms Bellinger said she tested positive to lead poisoning in 2012, about five weeks after notices were placed on the town's water supply. Although Ms Bellinger cannot pin the water supply as the cause of her results, the shock of the advisory has haunted her. "Grief, shell shock; I was horrified that I had been poisoned," she said. "It's nobody's fault, but really if you've been drinking the water you've been poisoned." A TasWater spokesman said water testing was carried out by Ben Lomond Water in June 2010, after assuming assets from the Dorset Council. The 2010 tests are the first official trials for heavy metal levels in the region's drinking water, as councils were previously only required to screen for biological matter. Mr Bellinger said eight of a planned "30 to 40" rainwater tanks had so far been built by the water body since meetings were held with residents about two years ago. The TasWater spokesman said the other tanks would be built, pending resident uptake, as part of the project's next phase. "Pioneer or Ethiopia?" has been painted across the town's communal water tank.
Pioneer's Jenny Bellinger tested positive to lead poisoning in 2012.
"DO NOT Consume" notices were placed on Pioneer's water supply two years after initial tests for heavy metals were conducted by Ben Lomond Water.
Elevated levels of lead were discovered in 40 of 81 samples taken from the town and findings also showed poor compliance levels of e-coli bacteria.
A public meeting will be held from 6.30pm on Tuesday, April 21, at the Pioneer Community Hall when Macquarie University PhD student Paul Harvey announces his water quality research findings from the region.
Mr Harvey on Monday described lead levels in the North-East as some of the worst he has seen in Australia.
Pioneer's Jenny Bellinger now lives at Scottsdale, awaiting the return of clean reticulated water to her former residence.
Ms Bellinger said she tested positive to lead poisoning in 2012, about five weeks after notices were placed on the town's water supply.
Although Ms Bellinger cannot pin the water supply as the cause of her results, the shock of the advisory has haunted her.
"Grief, shell shock; I was horrified that I had been poisoned," she said.
"It's nobody's fault, but really if you've been drinking the water you've been poisoned."
A TasWater spokesman said water testing was carried out by Ben Lomond Water in June 2010, after assuming assets from the Dorset Council.
The 2010 tests are the first official trials for heavy metal levels in the region's drinking water, as councils were previously only required to screen for biological matter.
Mr Bellinger said eight of a planned "30 to 40" rainwater tanks had so far been built by the water body since meetings were held with residents about two years ago.
The TasWater spokesman said the other tanks would be built, pending resident uptake, as part of the project's next phase.
"Pioneer or Ethiopia?" has been painted across the town's communal water tank.
