QLDC says evidence for "clean" sewage sample is either lost or does not exist
Official Information documents fails to resolve questions around a vital water sample that was hailed by the Mayor and local MP as "proof" of clean Shotover effluent
Crux has been investigating for months now how a vital first water sample from the QLDC’s emergency discharge into the Shotover River, celebrated by the mayor and local MP as proof of clean effluent, went missing for a day before being tested.
Tests for e coli have to be tested less than 24 hours after being collected otherwise the results are not scientifically valid.
Crux readers may remember that the water sample was recorded as being collected at midnight - hours before the emergency discharge began.
Then the QLDC comms team changed their story and said it had been collected at 9.00 am on March 31st - around half an hour after the Shotover effluent discharge began.
But, and this is a big but, the sample did not arrive at the Eurofins laboratory in Invercargill until 8.30 am the next morning - April 1st. Just 30 minutes before the e- coli testing deadline.
Crux has carried out around twenty or more water tests in Queenstown at the Shotover plant …. always using the Eurofins lab in Invercargill.
The instructions to Crux from the Eurofins Queenstown office (where samples are received for onward transfer to Invercargill) is to test around 10.00 am, record all of the samples carefully, keep them cool in a chilly bin, and get them to the Eurofins office in Genda Drive very promptly (within 30 minutes).
Our samples usually would be in Invercargill, via Eurofins Queenstown, by around 2.30 pm the same day.
The mystery about the QLDC/Veolia sample on March 31st is that even if it was collected at 9.00 am on March 31st (and not midnight as the original paper work claimed) under what circumstances did it arrive at the Eurofins Invercargill lab at 8.30 the following morning?
We’ve been asking QLDC that question (specifically - show us the Queenstown to Invercargill courier documents) a lot until they forced the question into an LGOIMA (official information) process that takes 20 working days. The result was this.
“We have good reason under section 17(e) of the LGOIMA for refusing the information requested. We consider it is necessary to refuse the requested information on the basis of the following grounds:
• Section 17(e) – that the document alleged to contain the information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.”
Then the council added the following detail.
“To clarify, the Queenstown Eurofins laboratory is not accredited to test wastewater samples — this can only be conducted at their Invercargill laboratory. Therefore, the most efficient and compliant method for ensuring E. coli samples are tested within the required timeframe is to send them directly to Invercargill. There is no same-day, mid-afternoon Eurofins courier service from Queenstown to Invercargill specifically for wastewater samples.
“All samples are handled under a strict chain of custody protocol. This includes completion of documentation by the operators at the time of sampling, which then accompanies the samples during transit. Upon receipt in Invercargill, the samples are assigned a batch and order number, and a notification is sent from the laboratory to Council’s contractor (Veolia Water) confirming receipt and that processing is underway.
“The process followed in this case is consistent with standard practice for all routine operational samples. It is typical for the timestamp on the chain of custody form to reflect the day after the sample was collected, as delivery and lab processing generally occur the following morning.”
The QLDC staff who wrote this explanation clearly know very little about the actual process. If the sample was taken at 9.00 am at the Shotover plant (or even at midnight) on March 31st, Eurofins require that sample to be at the Queenstown office (less than five minutes by road), for onward dispatch to Invercargill, as soon as possible - like 30 minutes later.
A clue to a potential lack of truth here is the QLDC reference to there being “no same day mid-afternoon Eurofins courier service to Invercargill.” OK - so if the Veolia sample was taken at 9.00 am and Eurofins are in the same Glenda Drive building as Veolia, what happened to the sample for the rest of the day. “Standard practice” is that it would have been at the Veolia Queenstown office by 9.30 am and then safely on its way to Invercargill (by Eurofins) by mid-morning.
This creates the chain of custody that is essential for a scientifically valid water test. The sample is received by Eurofins Queenstown and logged as such. Then it is up to Eurofins to get the sample of Invercargill as quickly as possible - under controlled temperature conditions.
As a rather intriguing twist to this saga, QLDC have gone so far as to supply to Crux with a letter from Eurofins says that “everything is fine and valid.” Without any explanation for the missing day.
All we can do is publish the Eurofins letter below, and leave the question hanging as to what happened during that missing day and why the “standard practice” described by QLDC has no resemblance to the “standard practice” that Crux has experienced as a regular Eurofins client.
The ball is now back in the court of Veolia and QLDC to perhaps tell us what really happened during those missing 23.5 hours.
The industry professionals who handled this material, knowing the Eurofins process (of which I have personal experience) were well aware they were handling a political hot coal. There is no reasonable explanation that does not include deliberate tampering/interference/obstruction.
Stinks of further misleading standards and corruption