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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 04 Hansard (Thursday, 1 April 2004) . . Page.. 1669 ..
must be reported to ACT Health. The monitoring data is reviewed by ACT Health on a regular basis.
(4) The water is tested for a range of chemical, biological and microbiological characteristics as specified in the above guidelines. The types of tests performed are wide and varied, but the most common ones, carried out on all samples, are the bacteriological tests for total coliforms, faecal coliforms and total plate count. Chemical and physical tests such as colour, turbidity, pH, temperature and residual chlorine, and the metals: copper, iron, manganese and lead are also determined routinely on all samples.
An extended range of other tests are also undertaken at several different frequencies to ensure both the NHMRC guidelines are met, and that the ensuing results will be reliable and meaningful, both chemically and statistically.
Some of the additional test types include fluoride, alkalinity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, boron, aluminium, mercury and trihalomethanes, plus around 12 other heavy metals, anions and cyanide.
Key water quality parameters are reported and published annually in ACTEW’s Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (http://www.actewagl.com.au/default.aspx?loc=/Publications/default.htm)
(5) Microbiological quality is the most frequent and immediate measure of drinking water quality, and the NHMRC guidelines specify certain minimum frequencies for microbiological monitoring based on population. ACTEW’s current program includes approximately 960 samples per year, spread over 4 separate reporting zones, and scattered randomly throughout each zone.
On average 80 samples per month are taken on a daily basis and are analysed for all the microbiological tests as well as colour, turbidity, pH, temperature, residual chlorine, copper, iron, manganese and lead.
The tests fluoride, alkalinity, hardness, calcium, magnesium, boron, aluminium, mercury, trihalomethanes, and heavy metals are carried out on average 20 times per month, and the remaining tests around 5 times per month.
(6) Key water quality parameters are reported and published annually in ACTEW’s Annual Drinking Water Quality Report (http://www.actewagl.com.au/default.aspx?loc=/Publications/default.htm)
|
Parameter |
Target/Units |
All data based on customers taps | |||||
|
No. of Samples |
No. meeting target |
% meeting target |
Mean |
Min |
Max | ||
|
PH |
6.5 - 8.5 pH units |
1405 |
1339 |
95.3% |
7.95 |
6.6 |
10.3 |
|
Turbidity |
<5 NTU |
1405 |
1403 |
99.9% |
0.62 |
0.10 |
8.80 |
|
Copper |
<2 mg/L |
1405 |
1405 |
100.0% |
0.032 |
0.0005 |
1.30 |
|
Lead |
<0.01 mg/L |
1405 |
1405 |
100.0% |
0.000 |
0.0001 |
0.05 |
|
Iron |
<0.3 mg/L |
1405 |
1400 |
99.6% |
0.038 |
0.010 |
0.36 |
|
Manganese |
<0.1 mg/L |
1405 |
1405 |
100.0% |
0.009 |
0.0003 |
0.073 |
|
Free Chlorine |
<5 mg/L |
1405 |
1405 |
100.0% |
0.42 |
0.010 |
3.62 |
|
True Colour |
<15 Pt-Co |
1404 |
1404 |
100.0% |
3.59 |
0.10 |
12.0 |
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