Australian Drinking Water Map

Authorities knew key water treatment infrastructure was ‘offline’ 12 months before lead discovered in Yarrabah tap water

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-28/answers-wanted-over-lead-in-yarrabah-drinking-water/102654432

The Queensland government was warned of critical infrastructure failures more than a year before lead was discovered in the tap water of Australia’s largest Aboriginal community.

Lead up to 12 times the safe level was detected in May in tap water at schools in Yarrabah, in far north Queensland, and levels above acceptable limits have been found in water at the town’s health services and in some homes.

Queensland Health said it suspected the contamination source to be corroded pipes or fittings that leached heavy metals into the water, and that the levels recorded in affected facilities were safe when taps were flushed for 30 seconds.

The ABC can reveal that the automatic pH system, which controlled the acidity of the town’s water supply, was broken for more than a year before the heavy metals were found.

Documents show the Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council reported the issues to the government regulator in July last year stating that, in hundreds of samples taken from different outlets around the town between January 2021 and April 2022, the water was so corrosive it was failing Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

In a statement, the council said it had been “rigorously pursuing support and funding from the state government since early 2022 for a water treatment plant upgrade [inclusive of pH correction]”.

Tropical Public Health Service director Richard Gair said, while the possibility of corrosive water contributing to lead leaching of fittings in public buildings and private dwellings in Yarrabah was “certainly a hypothesis that we were investigating”, conclusions had not yet been drawn.

“We can advise that lead shouldn’t be in the water, but it’s not the responsibility of the health service to repair the infrastructure,” Dr Gair said.

Yarrabah’s water supply comes from bores and is naturally acidic, or low in pH.

It’s safe to drink – but can be more likely to corrode pipes and causes metals to leach into the water.

A government spokesperson from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water said a range of factors contributed to corrosion including pH and that works being carried out to automate would help.

They said the government was providing $1.25 million in funding to Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council to upgrade the water treatment plant, with a further $3.2 million dollars to “support water, wastewater, and solid waste projects”.

This funding was only announced after lead was detected in the water.

The Minister, Glenn Butcher, confirmed to the ABC during a visit to Yarrabah late last week that extra funding for critical works including the pH controller had now been provided.

“Obviously as things have changed, particularly with the levels that we’ve seen, it’s certainly highlighted now the importance of having to get back to an automated dosing system,” he said.

“As part of the response to what’s been happening in the community, we’ve now invested that $275,000 to make sure we get this system up and running.”

The ABC understands the automated pH system remained offline until this week.

The Education department has confirmed they are still providing bottled water to students and staff at the school.

Elevated levels detected in adults, children

Health authorities have confirmed around 250 people have been tested for lead levels in the community so far, and the ABC understands around 11 adults and children have shown elevated results.

The ABC understands only 18 children have been tested so far in a community of more than 1,800 children.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service said in a communique to staff this week there was “no evidence that the consumable water is the cause” of the elevated results.

“Instead there are environmental and health explanations that are likely contributors to these results,” chief executive Leena Singh said.

Kaylene Jackson, an outreach worker at the Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, said it had caught her off guard.

“Because we don’t know anything about, you know, lead poisoning or anything like that,” she said.

Ms Jackson said two of her grandchildren and a family friend had elevated lead levels in their blood.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service has told her one child’s levels can be attributed to exposure to a lead fishing sinker, but that no explanation had been provided for the other two children.

“Because my granddaughter doesn’t go fishing, and her level was up,” Ms Jackson said.

Ms Jackson said she wanted a more widespread investigation.

“I feel angry and wild,” she said.

“Because in this day and age in Australia, we should be able to go to the tap, turn it on, grab clean drinking water, be able to drink it.

“I’d like to know what is really happening in the community with the water.

“I hope, following on from this now, that parents in Yarrabah, if they see this, please get their children tested, you know, even themselves.

Lead contamination risks ‘lifelong impact’

Cynthia Barlow, a researcher in lead contamination for the University of Adelaide, said that while lead fittings were common across homes in Australia, it was “much more likely to become a problem when the water is at a low pH”.

“It’s just a more acidic environment, so the lead and the copper in the pipes are just more likely to come out of the pipes and into the drinking water,” Dr Barlow said.

She said it was “very rare” to detect lead in children’s blood at all in Australia and that there should be more widespread testing in the town as a matter of priority.

Dr Gair from the Tropical Public Health Service said that although a bigger sample size would be useful to further investigate the cause of the lead leaching, authorities had done what they could to encourage testing.

“I think more comprehensive testing would provide better information and more reassurance to the community. We can offer testing, but we can’t make people get tested,” he said.

But Dr Barlow said authorities needed to be more proactive, with long-term exposure to even low levels of lead affecting immediate health, and posing the risk of a “lifelong impact” of increased developmental and behavioural issues.

“I think the sooner the better because once lead builds up in your body, it takes a long time to get rid of it. The longer that people are being exposed to contamination, the more damage is likely to occur,” she said.

“And I think we really need to understand how prevalent the problem is and what the source is so that it can be addressed and addressed quickly.”

‘Community deserves answers’

Jason King, a Yued Noongar man and the director of clinical services at Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, agreed that there needed to be a more “widespread understanding of the severity and the spread of [the] water quality issues”.

“We then have to drill down and figure out what is the actual cause because if it’s not coming from the water, it needs to be coming from somewhere else,” Dr King said.

“There is a genuine interest in getting answers because the community deserves those answers.”

Dr King said the health service was in discussions with the paediatrics team in Cairns to include heavy metal testing in situations where doctors had concerns about someone’s neurodevelopment.

“Up till now, that hasn’t been a concern,” he said.

‘Elevated’ lead levels detected in water at far-north Queensland hospital

Atherton hospital staff were offered blood tests but the state’s chief health officer says he would be ‘very surprised’ if they showed high levels of lead

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/30/atherton-hospital-elevated-lead-levels-detected-in-water-queensland

Lead contamination has been discovered in the water at a new hospital building and at an Aboriginal health clinic in far-north Queensland.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) announced that a number of water samples taken at the new clinical services building at Atherton hospital and at a health facility in nearby Yarrabah contained lead at levels that exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended guidelines for safe drinking water.

 

The new clinical services building at Atherton was due to open on Wednesday. The CHHS chief executive, Leena Singh, said that would be delayed.

“That is because the rectification work and investigation works will take longer,” Singh said.

“We’re inconclusive as to what that could be. It could be from the fittings, so the [copper] pipe fittings could be leaking the lead. But we don’t know at this point in time.”

The elevated lead levels were detected in routine water testing and showed results up to six times the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality, which is 0.01mg/L. However the WHO notes there is no safe level of lead contamination, and lead levels should be kept “as low as reasonably practical”.

“I understand the detection of elevated lead levels may cause concern, but I want to assure our staff and patients at Atherton and Yarrabah that CHHHS is taking extensive measures to limit potential contamination and protect people’s health and wellbeing,” Singh said.

“Expert toxicology advice is that there is a low risk of exposure to lead at both facilities, but it is much better to cautious than complacent.”

Water at Yarrabah Aboriginal community health precinct found to have elevated copper levels

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-23/yarrabah-aboriginal-community-health-precinct-water-copper/102378868

Staff at an Aboriginal community health facility near Cairns have been offered bottled water and precautionary blood tests after tap water at the service was found to contain elevated levels of copper.

Testing of the Yarrabah Health Facility’s mains water in March detected the presence of high levels of copper.

It’s understood the issue is isolated to the clinic and has not affected the quality of the drinking water in the wider community.

Tropical Public Health Services director Richard Gair said investigations into the facility’s plumbing system were ongoing.

Meanwhile, bottled water was being provided to staff and visitors.

“The health service has engaged an expert hydraulic engineering firm to investigate the plumbing system within the facility and make recommendations,” Dr Gair said in a statement.

He said senior officers from the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, including experts in environmental health and medical doctors, had met twice with staff at the Yarrabah Health Service in May to answer questions and share with them plans to address the water quality issues.

“Any staff who work within the health facility, including Gurriny Yealamucka and Queensland ambulance staff, have been offered a precautionary blood test for elevated copper levels,” Dr Gair said.

“The testing is free and voluntary. The drinking water elsewhere in Yarrabah community complies with the Australian drinking water guidelines.”

Queensland Health has not released details about the amount of copper detected in the water.

Town water aquifer safe

Yarrabah Mayor Ross Andrews said the town’s water was pumped from an aquifer to a local reservoir for treatment.

He said he had no reason to believe the town water contained copper contaminants.

“We’re continuing to do that good work in partnership with the authorities to ensure that people have safe and reliable water supply to community,” he said.

Low risk of harm

Organic chemist and honorary professor at the University of Melbourne, Ian Rae, said the upper limit for copper in water was 2mg/L.

“The short-term risks are a gastric upset because the digestive system gets out of whack,” Professor Rae said.

“The worst that’s going to happen is a long-term damage to a liver. That’s a very nasty situation, but it’s very rare. You need quite a bit of copper over a long period to do that.”

A statement from Queensland Health determined that the long-term health risk to the public was low.

“Available evidence does not indicate increased health risk at the levels currently detected unless the person has a rare condition such as Wilson’s disease,” the statement read.

2009/15 – Yarrabah – (Queensland) – E.coli

29/7/09: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detections at multiple points in the reticulation. Boil Water Alert was issued. Creek was put back into use following sufficient water flow. Free chlorine levels were low. Free chlorine levels increased and E.coli testing increased to weekly frequency. Only one chlorine dose point at that time.

15/12/10: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detected at the Police station. Proper flushing was not done prior to sample collection. Station can be subject to low flow and turnover which dissipates chlorine. One chlorine pump was not working, which was then changed and chlorine residual increased. Longer flushing to be also done. Only one chlorine dose point at that time.

29/3/12: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detections at multiple points. Boil Water Alert issued. Fault with chlorine dosing pipe. Pipe replaced and mains flushed. Consecutive sampling showed no E. coli detections. Only one chlorine dose point at that time. Two more dose points were then subsequently installed.

18/8/15: Yarrabah (Queensland). Ran out Chlorine Hydroxide 10%, Boil Water Alert issued. Investigation report has sent to DEWS

“Coliforms are Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria that are capable of aerobic and facultative anaerobic growth in the presence of bile salts or other surface active agents with similar growth-inhibiting properties. They are found in large numbers in the faeces of humans and other warm-blooded animals, but many species also occur in the environment.

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 2011

2011 – Yarrabah – (Queensland) – Colour

September 2011: Colour 29 True Colour Hazen

Based on aesthetic considerations, true colour in drinking water should not exceed 15 HU.

“… Colour is generally related to organic content, and while colour derived from natural sources such as humic and fulvic acids is not a health consideration, chlorination of such water can produce a variety of chlorinated organic compounds as by-products (see Section 6.3.2 on disinfection by-products). If the colour is high at the time of disinfection, then the water should be checked for disinfection by-products. It should be noted, however, that low colour at the time of disinfection does not necessarily mean that the concentration of disinfection by-products will be low…

2009/23 – Yarrabah (Queensland) – E.coli, Colour, Copper, Lead

in , , ,

Authorities knew key water treatment infrastructure was ‘offline’ 12 months before lead discovered in Yarrabah tap water

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-28/answers-wanted-over-lead-in-yarrabah-drinking-water/102654432

The Queensland government was warned of critical infrastructure failures more than a year before lead was discovered in the tap water of Australia’s largest Aboriginal community.

Lead up to 12 times the safe level was detected in May in tap water at schools in Yarrabah, in far north Queensland, and levels above acceptable limits have been found in water at the town’s health services and in some homes.

Queensland Health said it suspected the contamination source to be corroded pipes or fittings that leached heavy metals into the water, and that the levels recorded in affected facilities were safe when taps were flushed for 30 seconds.

The ABC can reveal that the automatic pH system, which controlled the acidity of the town’s water supply, was broken for more than a year before the heavy metals were found.

Documents show the Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council reported the issues to the government regulator in July last year stating that, in hundreds of samples taken from different outlets around the town between January 2021 and April 2022, the water was so corrosive it was failing Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

In a statement, the council said it had been “rigorously pursuing support and funding from the state government since early 2022 for a water treatment plant upgrade [inclusive of pH correction]”.

Tropical Public Health Service director Richard Gair said, while the possibility of corrosive water contributing to lead leaching of fittings in public buildings and private dwellings in Yarrabah was “certainly a hypothesis that we were investigating”, conclusions had not yet been drawn.

“We can advise that lead shouldn’t be in the water, but it’s not the responsibility of the health service to repair the infrastructure,” Dr Gair said.

Yarrabah’s water supply comes from bores and is naturally acidic, or low in pH.

It’s safe to drink – but can be more likely to corrode pipes and causes metals to leach into the water.

A government spokesperson from the Department of Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water said a range of factors contributed to corrosion including pH and that works being carried out to automate would help.

They said the government was providing $1.25 million in funding to Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council to upgrade the water treatment plant, with a further $3.2 million dollars to “support water, wastewater, and solid waste projects”.

This funding was only announced after lead was detected in the water.

The Minister, Glenn Butcher, confirmed to the ABC during a visit to Yarrabah late last week that extra funding for critical works including the pH controller had now been provided.

“Obviously as things have changed, particularly with the levels that we’ve seen, it’s certainly highlighted now the importance of having to get back to an automated dosing system,” he said.

“As part of the response to what’s been happening in the community, we’ve now invested that $275,000 to make sure we get this system up and running.”

The ABC understands the automated pH system remained offline until this week.

The Education department has confirmed they are still providing bottled water to students and staff at the school.

Elevated levels detected in adults, children

Health authorities have confirmed around 250 people have been tested for lead levels in the community so far, and the ABC understands around 11 adults and children have shown elevated results.

The ABC understands only 18 children have been tested so far in a community of more than 1,800 children.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service said in a communique to staff this week there was “no evidence that the consumable water is the cause” of the elevated results.

“Instead there are environmental and health explanations that are likely contributors to these results,” chief executive Leena Singh said.

Kaylene Jackson, an outreach worker at the Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, said it had caught her off guard.

“Because we don’t know anything about, you know, lead poisoning or anything like that,” she said.

Ms Jackson said two of her grandchildren and a family friend had elevated lead levels in their blood.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service has told her one child’s levels can be attributed to exposure to a lead fishing sinker, but that no explanation had been provided for the other two children.

“Because my granddaughter doesn’t go fishing, and her level was up,” Ms Jackson said.

Ms Jackson said she wanted a more widespread investigation.

“I feel angry and wild,” she said.

“Because in this day and age in Australia, we should be able to go to the tap, turn it on, grab clean drinking water, be able to drink it.

“I’d like to know what is really happening in the community with the water.

“I hope, following on from this now, that parents in Yarrabah, if they see this, please get their children tested, you know, even themselves.

Lead contamination risks ‘lifelong impact’

Cynthia Barlow, a researcher in lead contamination for the University of Adelaide, said that while lead fittings were common across homes in Australia, it was “much more likely to become a problem when the water is at a low pH”.

“It’s just a more acidic environment, so the lead and the copper in the pipes are just more likely to come out of the pipes and into the drinking water,” Dr Barlow said.

She said it was “very rare” to detect lead in children’s blood at all in Australia and that there should be more widespread testing in the town as a matter of priority.

Dr Gair from the Tropical Public Health Service said that although a bigger sample size would be useful to further investigate the cause of the lead leaching, authorities had done what they could to encourage testing.

“I think more comprehensive testing would provide better information and more reassurance to the community. We can offer testing, but we can’t make people get tested,” he said.

But Dr Barlow said authorities needed to be more proactive, with long-term exposure to even low levels of lead affecting immediate health, and posing the risk of a “lifelong impact” of increased developmental and behavioural issues.

“I think the sooner the better because once lead builds up in your body, it takes a long time to get rid of it. The longer that people are being exposed to contamination, the more damage is likely to occur,” she said.

“And I think we really need to understand how prevalent the problem is and what the source is so that it can be addressed and addressed quickly.”

‘Community deserves answers’

Jason King, a Yued Noongar man and the director of clinical services at Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service, agreed that there needed to be a more “widespread understanding of the severity and the spread of [the] water quality issues”.

“We then have to drill down and figure out what is the actual cause because if it’s not coming from the water, it needs to be coming from somewhere else,” Dr King said.

“There is a genuine interest in getting answers because the community deserves those answers.”

Dr King said the health service was in discussions with the paediatrics team in Cairns to include heavy metal testing in situations where doctors had concerns about someone’s neurodevelopment.

“Up till now, that hasn’t been a concern,” he said.

‘Elevated’ lead levels detected in water at far-north Queensland hospital

Atherton hospital staff were offered blood tests but the state’s chief health officer says he would be ‘very surprised’ if they showed high levels of lead

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/30/atherton-hospital-elevated-lead-levels-detected-in-water-queensland

Lead contamination has been discovered in the water at a new hospital building and at an Aboriginal health clinic in far-north Queensland.

The Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) announced that a number of water samples taken at the new clinical services building at Atherton hospital and at a health facility in nearby Yarrabah contained lead at levels that exceeded the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended guidelines for safe drinking water.

The new clinical services building at Atherton was due to open on Wednesday. The CHHS chief executive, Leena Singh, said that would be delayed.

“That is because the rectification work and investigation works will take longer,” Singh said.

“We’re inconclusive as to what that could be. It could be from the fittings, so the [copper] pipe fittings could be leaking the lead. But we don’t know at this point in time.”

The elevated lead levels were detected in routine water testing and showed results up to six times the WHO guidelines for drinking water quality, which is 0.01mg/L. However the WHO notes there is no safe level of lead contamination, and lead levels should be kept “as low as reasonably practical”.

“I understand the detection of elevated lead levels may cause concern, but I want to assure our staff and patients at Atherton and Yarrabah that CHHHS is taking extensive measures to limit potential contamination and protect people’s health and wellbeing,” Singh said.

“Expert toxicology advice is that there is a low risk of exposure to lead at both facilities, but it is much better to cautious than complacent.”

Water at Yarrabah Aboriginal community health precinct found to have elevated copper levels

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-23/yarrabah-aboriginal-community-health-precinct-water-copper/102378868

Staff at an Aboriginal community health facility near Cairns have been offered bottled water and precautionary blood tests after tap water at the service was found to contain elevated levels of copper.

Testing of the Yarrabah Health Facility’s mains water in March detected the presence of high levels of copper.

It’s understood the issue is isolated to the clinic and has not affected the quality of the drinking water in the wider community.

Tropical Public Health Services director Richard Gair said investigations into the facility’s plumbing system were ongoing.

Meanwhile, bottled water was being provided to staff and visitors.

“The health service has engaged an expert hydraulic engineering firm to investigate the plumbing system within the facility and make recommendations,” Dr Gair said in a statement.

He said senior officers from the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, including experts in environmental health and medical doctors, had met twice with staff at the Yarrabah Health Service in May to answer questions and share with them plans to address the water quality issues.

“Any staff who work within the health facility, including Gurriny Yealamucka and Queensland ambulance staff, have been offered a precautionary blood test for elevated copper levels,” Dr Gair said.

“The testing is free and voluntary. The drinking water elsewhere in Yarrabah community complies with the Australian drinking water guidelines.”

Queensland Health has not released details about the amount of copper detected in the water.

Town water aquifer safe

Yarrabah Mayor Ross Andrews said the town’s water was pumped from an aquifer to a local reservoir for treatment.

He said he had no reason to believe the town water contained copper contaminants.

“We’re continuing to do that good work in partnership with the authorities to ensure that people have safe and reliable water supply to community,” he said.

Low risk of harm

Organic chemist and honorary professor at the University of Melbourne, Ian Rae, said the upper limit for copper in water was 2mg/L.

“The short-term risks are a gastric upset because the digestive system gets out of whack,” Professor Rae said.

“The worst that’s going to happen is a long-term damage to a liver. That’s a very nasty situation, but it’s very rare. You need quite a bit of copper over a long period to do that.”

A statement from Queensland Health determined that the long-term health risk to the public was low.

“Available evidence does not indicate increased health risk at the levels currently detected unless the person has a rare condition such as Wilson’s disease,” the statement read.

2009/15 – Yarrabah – (Queensland) – E.coli

29/7/09: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detections at multiple points in the reticulation. Boil Water Alert was issued. Creek was put back into use following sufficient water flow. Free chlorine levels were low. Free chlorine levels increased and E.coli testing increased to weekly frequency. Only one chlorine dose point at that time.

15/12/10: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detected at the Police station. Proper flushing was not done prior to sample collection. Station can be subject to low flow and turnover which dissipates chlorine. One chlorine pump was not working, which was then changed and chlorine residual increased. Longer flushing to be also done. Only one chlorine dose point at that time.

29/3/12: Yarrabah (Queensland). E. coli detections at multiple points. Boil Water Alert issued. Fault with chlorine dosing pipe. Pipe replaced and mains flushed. Consecutive sampling showed no E. coli detections. Only one chlorine dose point at that time. Two more dose points were then subsequently installed.

18/8/15: Yarrabah (Queensland). Ran out Chlorine Hydroxide 10%, Boil Water Alert issued. Investigation report has sent to DEWS

“Coliforms are Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacteria that are capable of aerobic and facultative anaerobic growth in the presence of bile salts or other surface active agents with similar growth-inhibiting properties. They are found in large numbers in the faeces of humans and other warm-blooded animals, but many species also occur in the environment.

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 2011

2011 – Yarrabah – (Queensland) – Colour

September 2011: Colour 29 True Colour Hazen

Based on aesthetic considerations, true colour in drinking water should not exceed 15 HU.

“… Colour is generally related to organic content, and while colour derived from natural sources such as humic and fulvic acids is not a health consideration, chlorination of such water can produce a variety of chlorinated organic compounds as by-products (see Section 6.3.2 on disinfection by-products). If the colour is high at the time of disinfection, then the water should be checked for disinfection by-products. It should be noted, however, that low colour at the time of disinfection does not necessarily mean that the concentration of disinfection by-products will be low…