‘Dirty’ tap water in Narrandera is causing diarrhoea and rashes, residents say
Penny Burfitt reporter. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-23/narrandera-water-dirty-complaints-sick-residents/102129344
Residents of a southern NSW town say they are living off bottled water because the town supply is leaving them with irritated bowels and skin rashes.
Karin Olsen moved to Narrandera from Sydney six months ago and said within three days she was suffering from stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
She said when she mentioned her symptoms to a local retailer in town, their response was disturbing.
“They said, ‘For God’s sake don’t drink the tap water’,” Ms Olsen said.
She said that since switching to bottled water, at a cost of $100 per fortnight, her symptoms had gone but the tap water still regularly smelt and looked “putrid”.
Ms Olsen found it incredible that in 21st-century Australia there was still water that was undrinkable.
Longstanding issue
The issue of water cleanliness has plagued Narrandera for years.
In 2022 one local mum told the ABC the dirty water cost her thousands in damage to clothes put through the laundry, and 12 months later another mum, Ariel Tonkies, said she was experiencing physical reactions to the water.
Ms Tonkies has lived in the town for three years with her partner David and sons Alex, aged two, and George, eight months.
She said her water was discoloured and smelt “metallic or like sulphur or chlorine” at least once a week.
She is sensitive to heavy metals and experiences a severe allergic reaction to the water, but said her sons did not have the same sensitivities and reacted with rashes.
“It’s really affecting our quality of life at the moment,” she said.
“It’s making us want to flee the town.”
When the water is bad she has to forgo showering or bathing herself because of her allergic reaction.
“Ten days was longest time. It makes me feel very gross,” she said.
Lack of filtration
Narrandera’s water supply comes from four ground bores placed along the edge of the Murrumbidgee River, which have been there for at least 20 years.
Narrandera Shire Council general manager George Cowan said the town’s water quality was a “number one priority”.
He said the issue stemmed from a decision in the 1980s to use groundwater for the town’s drinking supply without installing a filtration system.
“That decision by the council in the 1980s essentially condemned this community to this outcome,” he said.
Mr Cowan said the water now went through some primary treatments including chlorine injection and, while it was considered safe to drink, it “retains a heavy chemical load and strong taste associated with bore water”.
He said the water was regularly tested and was considered drinkable, and while he had not received many complaints about physical reactions, he urged anyone with symptoms to contact the council.
Solution years away
Mr Cowan said the council had been working with the state government to plan a new treatment plant for the past six years, but estimated it was still another three years away.
“I would like to do this a lot quicker but unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that given the mechanics of the process that we have to follow,” he said.
In the interim, free domestic filtration devices have been made available to residents.
Ms Olsen said the timeframe was unacceptable and it showed a double standard for residents in the bush.
“In Bondi, Woolhara or Potts Point it would be fixed within 48 hours maximum,” she said.
“This situation, waiting another three years, would not fly in Sydney. No way in hell.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Environment said Narrandera’s water met Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
They did not respond to questions about the timeline, but said they had provided $215,000 to the council for water planning, some of which is being used for a feasibility study into solution to the water quality.
They said the study needed to be complete before they could discuss “next steps”.
Drinking water turns ‘evil’ in string of Aussie town
Drinking water straight from the tap is no longer possible in several NSW regions after flooding contaminated supplies.
To prevent illness, boil water notices were issued this year for several towns including Nimbin, Eugowra and Narrandera. Images shared to social media show discoloured brown water which a Moama resident said came from her kitchen tap.
Western Sydney University water scientist Dr Ian Wright told Yahoo News Australia he’s never seen so many boil water alerts in NSW.
He notes extreme weather like flood, fire and dust storms put “huge pressure” on water systems. “Floods are really just a great way of mobilising every known pollutant in a landscape and sending it down the river,” he said.
The health risks of contaminated water
Dr Wright warns it is not just drinking unboiled water that can prove harmful. Even contact with skin can have devastating results. “Health authorities always warn us to limit physical contact with floodwater, particularly if you’re elderly, or have cuts and scratches,” he said.
When analysing water, his team looks for faecal coliform indicators. Their presence indicates there is warm-blooded animal waste in the supply. “I’ve tested a lot of water after floods and it’s just evil. We grab samples and test them in the lab the bacteria results just light up.”
Bacteria, viruses and parasites like giardia and cryptosporidium can enter the water supply after flooding. If people drink affected water without boiling it, Dr Wright warns you’re “spinning the chamber in the revolver”. “It’s absolutely Russian roulette.”
“The advice is boil the water, but you don’t just boil it like you’re making a cup of tea, you boil it and leave it on what they call a rolling boil,” he said. “So you hold the button down… for 30 seconds or so then let it cool down.”
Drinking water straight from the tap is no longer possible in several NSW regions after flooding contaminated supplies.
To prevent illness, boil water notices were issued this year for several towns including Nimbin, Eugowra and Narrandera. Images shared to social media show discoloured brown water which a Moama resident said came from her kitchen tap.
Western Sydney University water scientist Dr Ian Wright told Yahoo News Australia he’s never seen so many boil water alerts in NSW.
He notes extreme weather like flood, fire and dust storms put “huge pressure” on water systems. “Floods are really just a great way of mobilising every known pollutant in a landscape and sending it down the river,” he said.
The health risks of contaminated water
Dr Wright warns it is not just drinking unboiled water that can prove harmful. Even contact with skin can have devastating results. “Health authorities always warn us to limit physical contact with floodwater, particularly if you’re elderly, or have cuts and scratches,” he said.
When analysing water, his team looks for faecal coliform indicators. Their presence indicates there is warm-blooded animal waste in the supply. “I’ve tested a lot of water after floods and it’s just evil. We grab samples and test them in the lab the bacteria results just light up.”
Bacteria, viruses and parasites like giardia and cryptosporidium can enter the water supply after flooding. If people drink affected water without boiling it, Dr Wright warns you’re “spinning the chamber in the revolver”. “It’s absolutely Russian roulette.”
“The advice is boil the water, but you don’t just boil it like you’re making a cup of tea, you boil it and leave it on what they call a rolling boil,” he said. “So you hold the button down… for 30 seconds or so then let it cool down.
In many small towns in Australia, councils are responsible for managing the upkeep of water and sewerage systems and combatting the impact of flooding can sometimes be beyond their ability.
“If you don’t travel much and you’re from a big city in Australia, drinking water straight from a tap is probably something you take for granted,” Dr Wright said. “But as soon as you go into a regional location, overseas, or to a developing country, we suddenly become aware of water problems.”
Narrandera family’s decade-long battle for better water, but council says it’s ‘safe’
Jan 14 2022: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/narrandera-family-decade-long-call-for-better-water-quality/100731174
Nicole Beard filled her kettle with water from the kitchen tap … but not to make a cup of tea. She was preparing to bathe her babies.
After the water heated up, she waited for it to cool down then poured it into the baby bath.
That was the only way she felt comfortable bathing her children in the water that came out of the taps in her home at Narrandera in the New South Wales Riverina.
“It’s really disgusting because you don’t want to put your kids into something like that,” she said.
“I didn’t want to put them in that rusty water because I don’t know if it’s just a cosmetic-looking terrible thing or if there are things in there that aren’t good for you.”
About seven years later, the mother of four says not much has changed.
“When it’s really bad, it comes out like an orange rust and that happens every now and again,” Ms Beard said.
Thermotolerant coliforms are a sub-group of coliforms that are able to grow at 44.5 ± 0.2°C. E. coli is the most common thermotolerant coliform present in faeces and is regarded as the most specific indicator of recent faecal contamination because generally it is not capable of growth in the environment. In contrast, some other thermotolerant coliforms (including strains of Klebsiella, Citrobacter and Enterobacter) are able to grow in the environment and their presence is not necessarily related to faecal contamination. While tests for thermotolerant coliforms can be simpler than for E. coli, E. coli is considered a superior indicator for detecting faecal contamination…” ADWG
Narrandera (NSW) Lead
2001/13 – Narrandera (NSW) – Lead 0.054mg/L (max)
Lead Australian Drinking Water Guideline 0.01mg/L
“… Lead can be present in drinking water as a result of dissolution from natural sources, or from household plumbing systems containing lead. These may include lead in pipes, or in solder used to seal joints. The amount of lead dissolved will depend on a number of factors including pH, water hardness and the standing time of the water.
Lead is the most common of the heavy metals and is mined widely throughout the world. It is used in the production of lead acid batteries, solder, alloys, cable sheathing, paint pigments, rust inhibitors, ammunition, glazes and plastic stabilisers. The organo-lead compounds tetramethyl and tetraethyl lead are used extensively as anti-knock and lubricating compounds in gasoline…ADWG 2011
Narrandera (New South Wales) – Aluminium
According to the ADWG, no health guideline has been adopted for Aluminium, but that the issue is still open to review. Aluminium can come from natural geological sources or from the use of aluminium salts as coagulants in water treatment plants. According to the ADWG “A well-operated water filtration plant (even using aluminium as a flocculant) can achieve aluminium concentrations in the finished water of less than 0.1 mg/L.
The most common form of aluminium in water treatment plants is Aluminium Sulfate (Alum). Alum can be supplied as a bulk liquid or in granular form. It is used at water treatment plants as a coagulant to remove turbidity, microorganisms, organic matter and inorganic chemicals. If water is particularly dirty an Alum dose of as high as 500mg/L could occur. There is also concern that other metals may also exist in refined alum.
While the ADWG mentions that there is considerable evidence that Aluminium is neurotoxic and can pass the gut barrier to accumulate in the blood, leading to a condition called encephalopathy (dialysis dementia) and that Aluminium has been associated with Parkinsonism dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the NHMRC, whilst also acknowledging studies which have linked Aluminium with Alzheimer disease, has not granted Aluminium a NOEL (No Observable Effect Level) due to insufficient and contradictory data. Without a NOEL, a health guideline cannot be established. The NHMRC has also stated that if new information comes to hand, a health guideline may be established in the future.
In communication with Aluminium expert Dr Chris Exley (Professor in Bioinorganic Chemistry
The Birchall Centre, Lennard-Jones Laboratories, Keele University, Staffordshire UK) in March 2013 regarding high levels of Aluminium detected in the South Western Victorian town of Hamilton
“It is my opinion that any value above 0.5 mg/L is totally unacceptable and a potential health risk. Where such values are maintained over days, weeks or even months, as indeed is indicated by the data you sent to me, these represent a significant health risk to all consumers. While consumers may not experience any short term health effects the result of longer term exposure to elevated levels of aluminium in potable waters may be a significant increase in the body burden of aluminium in these individuals. This artificially increased body burden will not return to ‘normal’ levels when the Al content of the potable water returns to normal but will act as a new platform level from which the Al body burden will continue to increase with age.
2001/13 – Narrandera (New South Wales) – Turbidity
2001/13: Narrandera (New South Wales) – Turbidity 98.7NTU (max), 1.19NTU (mean)
Chlorine-resistant pathogen reduction: Where filtration alone is used as the water treatment
process to address identified risks from Cryptosporidium and Giardia, it is essential
that filtration is optimised and consequently the target for the turbidity of water leaving
individual filters should be less than 0.2 NTU, and should not exceed 0.5 NTU at any time
Disinfection: A turbidity of less than 1 NTU is desirable at the time of disinfection with
chlorine unless a higher value can be validated in a specific context.
Aesthetic: Based on aesthetic considerations, the turbidity should not exceed 5 NTU at the
consumer’s tap
2001/13 Narrandera (New South Wales) – Iron
2001/13: Narrandera (New South Wales) – Iron 2.1mg/L (max), 0.14 (mean)
Based on aesthetic considerations (precipitation of iron from solution and taste),
the concentration of iron in drinking water should not exceed 0.3 mg/L.
No health-based guideline value has been set for iron.
Iron has a taste threshold of about 0.3 mg/L in water, and becomes objectionable above 3 mg/L. High iron concentrations give water an undesirable rust-brown appearance and can cause staining of laundry and plumbing fittings, fouling of ion-exchange softeners, and blockages in irrigation systems. Growths of iron bacteria, which concentrate iron, may cause taste and odour problems and lead to pipe restrictions, blockages and corrosion. ADWG 2011
Narrandera (New South Wales) – Copper
2001/13: Narrandera (New South Wales) Copper 2.73mg/L (max), 0.029mg/L (mean)
Based on health considerations, the concentration of copper in drinking water should not
exceed 2 mg/L.
Based on aesthetic considerations, the concentration of copper in drinking water should
not exceed 1 mg/L.
Copper is widely distributed in rocks and soils as carbonate and sulfide minerals.
Copper is relatively resistant to corrosion and is used in domestic water supply pipes and fittings. It is also used in the electroplating and chemical industries, and in many household goods. Copper sulfate is used extensively to control the growth of algae in water storages.
Copper is present in uncontaminated surface waters at very low concentrations, usually less than 0.01 mg/L. The concentration can rise substantially when water with a low pH and hardness remains in stagnant contact with copper pipes and fittings. Under these conditions, the concentration of copper can reach 5 mg/L or higher. In one extreme case overseas, a concentration of 22 mg/L was reported.