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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Thursday, 1 April 2004) . . Page.. 1668 ..

(4) What are the main constituents looked for in water testing;

(5) How often is testing carried out;

(6) What have been the average readings for the constituents tested in our water supply each month for the last 18 months;

(7) Are there any concerns regarding an increase in turbidity of the water supply; if so, please provide details;

(8) Have there been any persons in the A.C.T. with any sort of health condition due to problems with water; if so, how many were detected and what caused the illness;

(9) For each of the constituents above, at what levels does the Government inform the public of problems with water supply;

(10) At what level of turbidity does the Government inform the public of problems with water supply.

Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) Due to the warmer weather ACTEW has increased the chlorine concentration at Mt Stromlo WTP. This is well within the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines limit of 5mg/L

(2) The following table details the number of complaints for taste and odour problems since August 2002 and since January 2004:

(3) The supply of drinking water in the ACT is defined as a ‘Licensable Public Health Risk Activity” under the Public Health Act 1997, and as such is licensed under that Act. Under the terms of the licence ACTEW must comply with the Drinking Water Quality Code of Practice 2000. This Code of Practice covers such things as testing frequencies, water quality testing, publication of results etc.

The technical requirements for water quality testing are referenced from the most recent Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) as published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand (ARMCANZ)

The drinking water monitoring program has therefore been designed to meet the requirements of these NHMRC Guidelines, plus whatever additional requirements are required by the Code of Practice. This is consistent with the approach adopted by most other water utilities throughout the country.

ACTEW as the licensee carries out a comprehensive monitoring program that fully complies with the Code of Practice. Under the code any variation in certain parameters

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