Water Monitoring and Reporting
Drinking Water Quality Monitoring
Council provides safe and reliable drinking water to approximately 18,000 people in the Singleton Local Government area every day. Our drinking water is regularly tested throughout the water supply system and analysed by independent NATA certified laboratories, as governed by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) 2011.
If a problem with water supply is identified, the NSW Health Department will issue a boil water alert. Council consults with NSW Health to ensure current and emerging issues associated with drinking water quality are identified and assessed.
Drinking Water Management System
A secure and safe supply of drinking water is fundamental to public health. The NSW Government has endorsed the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2011 (published by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council).
Council’s Drinking Water Quality Management Manual and Supporting Documents has been structured by the 12 elements of the ADWG, as are the NSW Guidelines for Drinking Water Management Systems. It is made up of the following document hierarchy;
- Water Quality Statement; included in the Water Supply Services Policy
- Drinking Water Manual
- Supporting documents
Drinking Water System Analysis (separate report)
Risk Assessment Report (separate report)
Monitoring Plan (Appendix J - Drinking Water Manual)
Improvement Plan (Appendix I - Drinking Water Manual)
- Procedures in relation to the following topics:
Operation and maintenance (section 4 - Drinking Water Manual)
Emergency response (section 6 - Drinking Water Manual)
Quality assurance (Monitoring Plan and section 7 - Drinking Water manual)
Critical control point (Appendix D - Drinking Water Manual and Monitoring Plan)
Water Quality Results
Singleton Council performs routine drinking water sampling and testing to monitor the quality of drinking water. The results are submitted to the NSW Drinking Water Database. Compliance is determined against the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2011) guideline values for microbiological, physical and chemical characteristics of drinking water. The results of those test have been included below.