TasWater has announced that water from a new treatment plant in Tunbridge (TAS) now meets Australian standards, allowing residents to drink tap water without having to boil it first.
The $1.8million treatment plant has been supplying water from the new facility since June 2015 and since then it has undergone a rigorous testing period to ensure the output of the plant meets the Tasmanian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines and the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has recently written to TasWater to indicate that the Boil Water Alert can be removed for Tunbridge.
DHHS is responsible for determining which town water supplies need Boil Water Alerts/Do Not Consume to be introduced and is also responsible for determining their removal.
TasWater CEO, Michael Brewster said he was pleased to confirm water from the new treatment plant meets nationally recognised standards.
“When TasWater was formed in 2013, a total of 27 towns across the state were covered by Boil Water Alerts or Do Not Consume notices, the result of water systems failing to meet Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.”
“Over the last few years TasWater has identified reducing the number of towns supplied with substandard water as a priority.”
Tunbridge now brings the number of towns in that category down to 24.”
TasWater is spending more than $300million over the next three years to upgrade water and sewerage services across Tasmania, which will help to reduce the number of communities covered by Boil Water Alerts/Do Not Consume Alerts.
Works are currently underway at Mole Creek, Flinders Island and Ringarooma.
The Ringarooma plant will feed water to the towns of Ringarooma, Winnaleah, Branxholm, Legerwood and Derby, significantly improving the quality of water throughout Tasmania’s northeast.
Rosebery on the west coast is also getting a new water treatment plant with a new pipeline in the planning stage to supply Avoca with water from a new treatment facility at Fingal.
