SA water - Interview
Episode: SA Waterwise Special – Our Changing Climate
Presenter: Kim Syrus
Every time we turn on the tape to fill up a glass or maybe a kettle how do we know the water we are drinking is clean and safe? It is probably a question you have never asked rather it is something we all expect. Kim visits the Australian water quality centre in Bolivar to find out more about what we are drinking.
Gently nestled in bush land just off the Main North Road, The Australian Water Quality Centre is a division of SA Water and responsible for our well being, when it comes to water. A person with all the answers is Mike Burch, the Centre’s Research Leader in Biology.
Kim: Mike, what does the Australian Water Quality Centre do?
Mike Burch:
The Australian Water Quality Centre is the technical and testing arm of SA Water which does all of the water quality testing, sophisticated testing, and also research for SA water on a whole range of water quality issues.
Kim: The most obvious question is how do I know that the water coming out of my tap is safe to drink?
Mike Burch:
We have a whole range of testing that we do that complies with the Australian drinking water guidelines, and SA water use that as there bench mark for water quality testing. A whole range of tests are done to ensure that the water is safe all the way from the River Murray down through the reservoir, the creeks and streams all the way through the pipe network, which we call the distribution system. There is testing done at all of those different points and that ensures that the water is safe, and complies with the national and international standards.
SA water is responsible for the water quality monitoring for the whole of the South Australian. And in South Australia water has about 25 000 km of pipe network which carries a lot of water and we also have about 670km of the River Murray, 15 reservoirs that SA water monitor along with 20 filtration plants.
What SA water have to do to monitor that water quality is to take samples from that system, and across that whole system there are about 1500 sampling locations, which means that it a lot of work to go out and bring samples back from there to the water quality centre, and then each of those samples are monitored for a whole range of different types of contaminants, like Algae, bacteria, heavy metals. All of those things are tested in the laboratory, where they go through multiple tests. The whole process gives us an overall picture of how we comply with guidelines and standards, to make the water suitable for drinking water.
Kim: How does Adelaide’s water compare with those interstate?
Mike:
People often say that the water tastes a little bit different, it has got slightly higher mineral taste then other cities, it is a little bit harder so the soap doesn’t lather up so much in the bath or shower as it does in other cities, but the taste is quite acceptable and the Quality is of a high standard.
Presenter: Kim Syrus
Every time we turn on the tape to fill up a glass or maybe a kettle how do we know the water we are drinking is clean and safe? It is probably a question you have never asked rather it is something we all expect. Kim visits the Australian water quality centre in Bolivar to find out more about what we are drinking.
Gently nestled in bush land just off the Main North Road, The Australian Water Quality Centre is a division of SA Water and responsible for our well being, when it comes to water. A person with all the answers is Mike Burch, the Centre’s Research Leader in Biology.
Kim: Mike, what does the Australian Water Quality Centre do?
Mike Burch:
The Australian Water Quality Centre is the technical and testing arm of SA Water which does all of the water quality testing, sophisticated testing, and also research for SA water on a whole range of water quality issues.
Kim: The most obvious question is how do I know that the water coming out of my tap is safe to drink?
Mike Burch:
We have a whole range of testing that we do that complies with the Australian drinking water guidelines, and SA water use that as there bench mark for water quality testing. A whole range of tests are done to ensure that the water is safe all the way from the River Murray down through the reservoir, the creeks and streams all the way through the pipe network, which we call the distribution system. There is testing done at all of those different points and that ensures that the water is safe, and complies with the national and international standards.
SA water is responsible for the water quality monitoring for the whole of the South Australian. And in South Australia water has about 25 000 km of pipe network which carries a lot of water and we also have about 670km of the River Murray, 15 reservoirs that SA water monitor along with 20 filtration plants.
What SA water have to do to monitor that water quality is to take samples from that system, and across that whole system there are about 1500 sampling locations, which means that it a lot of work to go out and bring samples back from there to the water quality centre, and then each of those samples are monitored for a whole range of different types of contaminants, like Algae, bacteria, heavy metals. All of those things are tested in the laboratory, where they go through multiple tests. The whole process gives us an overall picture of how we comply with guidelines and standards, to make the water suitable for drinking water.
Kim: How does Adelaide’s water compare with those interstate?
Mike:
People often say that the water tastes a little bit different, it has got slightly higher mineral taste then other cities, it is a little bit harder so the soap doesn’t lather up so much in the bath or shower as it does in other cities, but the taste is quite acceptable and the Quality is of a high standard.
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