ACTEW Water is encouraging homeowners to take part in their city-wide Water Quality Monitoring Program.
The program is an important water sourcing and testing initiative that ensures that Canberrans can continue to enjoy some of the best quality water in Australia. Every year, ACTEW Water conducts a comprehensive water quality monitoring program across its water supply and distribution system and relies on sourcing those samples from Canberra’s residential taps.
The data is used to verify water quality across the network and monitor trends within the system, to ensure that the region’s water meets the recommendations and requirements included within the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and the Drinking Water Code of Practice.
Participation does not require any action from homeowners, with the process involving an ACTEW Water contractor taking samples of water at random times throughout the year from an easily accessible front garden tap.
David Hohnke of ACTEW Water says that water quality monitoring is a very important program for the organisation to complete, but they need more residents from across Canberra.
“ACTEW Water provides over 100 million litres of treated water each day to over 163,000 customers. We must ensure that the water quality is of the highest standard it can possibly be, across our entire network,” he said.
You can participate if you are the homeowner (unfortunately if you are renting you are not eligible), and your front garden tap is:
- easily accessible and clear of bushes and other obstructions;
- not serviced by a rainwater tank;
- not in the immediate vicinity of pets, such as dogs;
- not attached to an irrigation system or equipment that can’t be easily detached.
“The aim of this program is to test points right across the network but we need more homeowners to help us out and get on-board the program.”