Water samples taken near the effluent spill at the South Pacific Meats processing plant on the outskirts of Invercargill have shown high levels of bacterial contamination.

Environment Southland Senior Technical Officer Graeme McKenzie said results have indicated that water in ditches surrounding the Awarua plant contained between 15 million to 24 million Escherichia coli (E.coli) colonies per 100ml of water.

Samples have also indicated that some of the waste has entered the New River Estuary, he said.

Council staff have today completed their third site visit since the incident on Thursday when a significant amount of processing effluent was spilled from a containment unit at the plant onto surrounding land.

Compliance Manager Mark Hunter said the incident is still being investigated but from this point normal procedures will follow to determine whether further action will be taken against the company.

But the results have justified the Council's response to the incident, he said.

"Our concern now is that there is work being done by the company to mitigate against any further risk of a similar incident happening again."