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Water plays an essential role in sustaining life therefore a safe water supply is crucial. Micro organisms that can cause disease, and harmful substances such as toxins, oils and other chemicals can pollute water and make it unsafe to drink.
The water supply for your resort may come from one of a variety of sources. If you live in a town or city, the water may be piped from a town water supply. For resorts located in remote areas, the water may come from a storage or rainwater tank, dam or a bore. Drinking water from municipal or town water supplies will generally require less monitoring water from site storage or rainwater tanks, dams and bores.
Drinking water should be safe to use and aesthetically pleasing as well as clear, colourless, well aerated and with no unpleasant taste or odour. Those responsible for water treatment plants should be familiar with treatment and sampling methods.
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 1996, published by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and available from the Australian Government Publishing Service, provide a framework for acceptable water quality, both from health and aesthetic perspectives. They are not mandatory standards, but rather recommendations for drinking water quality in a variety of settings. Contact local Environmental Health Services to check the parts of the Guidelines relevant to you.
Although there are many physical, chemical and microbiological parameters listed in the Guidelines, it recommends regular monitoring of a few key indicators such as E. coli (thermotolerant coliforms), coliforms, total plate count, residual chlorine, pH and turbidity. When conducting an audit, particularly the initial audit, it is useful to take samples for standard chemical and heavy metals analysis.
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines recommend the following as minimum standards for a good water supply:
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E. coli |
NIL in any sample (minimum sample size 100 mL) |
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Colifoms |
NIL in any sample (minimum sample size 100 mL) |
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Total Count |
< 100 colony forming units (CFM) /mL in a disinfected supply |
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pH |
6.5 - 8.5 |
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Chlorine |
residual >0.5 mg/L |
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Turbidity |
5 NTU (<1 NTU desirable for effective disinfection) |
enHealth has guidelines on the use of rainwater tanks and water tanks.
See also Drinking Water Quality, World Health Organisation
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