The Public and Environmental Health Service has always had confidence
about the way drinking water supplies for major centres have been
managed by the bulk water authorities.
This has been reflected in our annual drinking water reports.
However, there have been persistent ongoing problems with water quality in many rural and regional communities.
The
water and sewerage reforms offer a sustainable solution to these
problems and that is why they have been strongly supported by PEHS.
While
the points made by Dr Sexton about testing frequency in the cities of
Hobart and Clarence may well be correct, there has been a significant
increase in testing overall under the water and sewerage corporations.
There
have been 16 temporary boil water alerts since the new corporations
took over – the great majority in small towns and districts. Each of
these has its own underlying reasons and floods associated with heavy
rainfall this year have been a major factor.
From a Public
Health perspective, the important need is to alert people when their
water quality is not up to standard and to improve systems across the
state so we can ensure all Tasmanians have access to safe, high quality
drinking water.
As Director of Public Health I have been
advocating action for the past five years. The reforms approved by the
Parliament offer the first Statewide program to deliver these
badly-needed improvements.
Dr Roscoe Taylor
Director of Public Health