Aus water quality

[Bumblebee]

A bit of a rant...

Went to the council today to try and get information on chemicles added to our water plus to ask about why our drinking water constantly stank of chlorine. I was told that they did not controll water supply but 'bought' it off a private company, so had little information, and to look at the companies 'extensive web site' (no information and what was on there was over a month out of date) Then I found an interesting article from the australian health commission regarding water guidelines, these basicly said that drinking water should not smell, have any taste or be cloudy. On contacting the council again they said they were 'unaware' of these guidelines and if i didnt like the water I should get a tank (even though I am paying rates for water costs).

Personally I find it disgusting that a resource we all depend on has so little information on it, and also such lack of concern from a governing body regarding its quality.

found out in the end that the city I am in adds chlorine at .7mg . You can smell and taste it at around .6 . The average dechlorinator will only remove up to .5 without a double dose.

[ladyqpid]

Bumblebee where in Aus are you? I know that there is the same problem just a few k's from me, in the area that starshine lives. She complains of the chlorine smell also. And our LFS lost a small fortune in fish after a waterchange, even though he had declorinated, obviously not enough it seems. Apparantly, I was told, he found out that the water is ok for human consumption, but deadly for fish. Great for us fish people eh? Starshine mentioned that her mom puts water from the tap in large bottles and leaves them out in the sun for a week before they drink it. Apparantly the sun leaches the chemical etc from the water. Now i am not sure how much it would leach out, but it got me thinking and now i do the same, although i use a bucket or two. It does a couple of three things, it ages the water a bit, it leaches the chemicals and when the mozzies get going it might add a bit of food for my tanks as well. The way i look at it, anything we do to make our water better for ourselves has got to be a better grade of water for the fish. i did think for a while about using spring water in the tanks, but i read an article that said that if you start to use spring water you have to gradually... over a period of 6 weeks, do a total water change so that by the last water change the whole tank is spring water. that way it wont shock the fish so much as the spring water will have totally different mineral contents to the normal tap water. the good thing, no chemicals... well if the spring water company is being truthful... the bad thing.. it would cost a small fortune for the initial set up. Is it worth it?? the cost of initial set up.... omg it's out of the world. i did some quick calcs based on one of the larger spring water companies costs and it woud cost you $700 to do the initial change over to spring water... what a joke. I wonder if a filter system on the taps would filter out most of the chemicals that are the problem? I saw one advertised just lately that says it gets out 98% of all chemicals including mercury... I might look into that I think. Anyone using a water filter system and if so what brand and how sucessful is it?

[Bumblebee]

I live in Launceston tasmania. strangley enough, just a few weeks ago I was advised by a very good lps to use a double dose if you can smell chlorine. This turned out to work well as water only starts to smell at the .6ppm mark. most dechlorinators only work up to .5ppm but even an accidental overdose of dechlorinator is much less toxic than accidently adding chlorine. There have also been stores in the area losing large amounts of fish after water changes for the same reason.

The brand I have found best so far is the wardley tri-start. about 4 drops (8 double) will treat a 10lt bucket of water. It seems much more concentrated than some other brands where you are adding several capfulls for the same bucket of water.

for cheap water filtration you can use regular filter carbon. this will remove just about everything from the water. I have seen some people set up garbage bins outside with a strainer at the top full of cheap filter carbon through which they pour the water, then leave the carbon in the water and add an airator so the water circulates and purifies. Only problem is some of the cheapest brands of carbon can acidify the water.

[sammigold]

Aging the water in the sun will get rid of chlorine but it wont get rid of chlormines which is also added to the water by the "water people" chloramines = chlorine+ammonia from what I have read and is more toxic than chlorine... but is eliminated with most water aging products like "tri-start". so aging is good but you still should use the water conditioners as well.IMO
Bumblebee have you tried speaking to your local member of parliament about your concerns with the way the council treated your enquiry or even send in a letter of complaint to the council and if they dont answer to your liking approach the ombudsman.... the council should not shrug off your enquiry like that.. they are providing the water so it is up to them to find out what is in it etc and to follow up on this.. it should not be your responsibility... I am sure that if you send a letter with a copy of the info you found out about water quality guidelines they would have to respond with an explanation of why they are not adhering to these guidelines...maybe you should tell them you will be approaching the health commission... see how fast they move to answer your queries then! :-) Good Luck

[Bumblebee]

Chloramines can be bad in another way. Apparently some dechlorinators work by turning chloramines into ammonia. I know a few people who have accidently killed whole fish rooms because they didnt know their city recently started adding chloramine.

I think I will at least be sending the guidelines from the NHMRC that they seem to know nothing about.

[Bumblebee]

seems the water quality issue in our city goes a little deeper than just the council. I went to a public meeting today detailing how our water chachments (forests that support streams which supply water to the main rivers) are being logged by a cetain large timber company. This is causing the streams to dry up completley or be choaked with silt from soil erosion. Unfortunatly the two major political parties are reluctant to do anything about this company, in case they lose 'funding'. Pity about the people, farmers and wildlife that need the water to survive. Sadly it looks like politicians care more for the almighty dollar and pandering to big companies than caring for the communities quality of life. They dont even employ anyone to survay/audit/controll this company or repramand it for any destruction of our public resources.

[sassybees]

Thats disgusting... This country needs a good shake up with the Justice system and politics

[Bumblebee]

whats worse is that it wasnt the usual 'activist' meeting (although a few where there) but was held by hydrologists, farmers, a wildlife expert who is trying to help save our huge freshwater lobsters (a threatened freshwater lobster almost 1metre long that only lives on the NW of tasmania) and a independant forestry auditer. They also Invited representatives from the two major parties to come and detail there policy on water (again the most precious resource to any community, without it we would not be here) and one showed up with no policy. the other didnt show up, didnt send a policy.

I find it incredibly disturbing as someone who uses this resource, knows how important it is, and has to monitor its quality closley that our two major representatives in parlament dont give a rats arse. They are willing to give 250000000 megalitres a year to a new mill here, while the community and city that uses the SAME water source is ALREADY forced to drink chlorine stinking water and are also on water restrictions.

Even a two year old could do the maths on that one.
/rant


here are the australian guidelines of what you 'should' be entitled to:

www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/eh19syn.htm

A most interesting note from the 1996 ammendment:

"According to the NHMRC (1996) drinking water should be clear, colourless, well aerated with no unpalatable taste, odour, suspended matter, turbidity, toxic chemical substances or harmful micro-organisms. Drinking water should be safe and aesthetically pleasing. Water safety is characterised by microbiological, physical, chemical and radiological quality (NHMRC & ARMCANZ 1996).

There are links between different drinking water quality characteristics. For example, the NHMRC Australian drinking water quality guidelines (1996) note that turbidity can have a significant effect on the microbiological quality of drinking water. High turbidity can interfere with the detection of bacteria and viruses, by absorbing them onto the particulate matter and thus shielding them, and promote bacterial growth through the nutrients, which are absorbed. High turbidity has also been shown to protect micro-organisms from the action of disinfectants."

from here:http://www.rpdc.tas.gov.au/soer/set/5/issue/32/ataglance.php