Key Points
- Water in Australia is treated and monitored to ensure it meets health and safety standards.
- The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines are the national standards which guide our water suppliers.
- In most parts of Australia, tap water is safe to drink, but smaller regional and remote communities face extra challenges.
In Australia, where you live determines where your drinking water comes from—which can be from desalinated seawater, groundwater supplies or dams.
In our cities and most regional towns, drinking water is supplied to homes via the water main network of underground waterpipes.
Can we assume that water is safe to drink?
“Yes, in most parts of Australia tap water is safe to drink,” says Dr Emily Quek, Co-Chair of the Water Quality Specialist Network at the Australian Water Association.
“Our tap water is treated and monitored to meet strict health-based standards that consistently meets the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, and water utilities also regularly test it to ensure it is safe.”
Water quality researcher Professor Stuart Khan from the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney agrees.
“Most of the time in most of Australia, the answer is unequivocally ‘yes’. But safety is a relative term and there are certainly water supplies in Australia with significantly lower levels of safety than others,” Professor Khan says.
The most challenging water supplies to keep safe tend to be those in smaller regional and remote communities.Professor Stuart Khan
Remote areas often have less access to more sophisticated technologies for water treatment and quality monitoring, or people with proper training and skills to operate those technologies, Professor Khan says.
What are the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines?
These are the national standards which provide guidance to water suppliers to manage any risks to providing safe and reliable drinking water to communities.
“These Guidelines don’t specify particular treatment processes for treating drinking water. The risk-based framework recognises that some water sources are inherently more, or less, vulnerable to contamination than others. So, the type and degree of treatment required to reach an acceptable level of safety varies from one supply to another,” Professor Khan explains.
Water experts Dr Emily Quek and Professor Stuart Khan Credit: Emily Quek/Image supplied; Stuart Khan/Iain Bond
How is our water treated?
In Australia, water treatment processes typically include coagulation, filtration and chlorine disinfection.
Coagulation is a chemical process that removes suspended particles and organic matter by causing them to clump together into larger, heavier particles which can then be easily removed through filtration. The process also reduces the risk of pathogenic microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses.
Your tap water has gone through a multiple barrier approach, including filtration and disinfection to remove harmful substances.
“Chlorine is added to most drinking water in Australia to kill germs and keep it safe. Fluoride is added in many areas to help prevent tooth decay. Both chemicals are safe and are used at low levels, within the limits of Australian Drinking Water Guidelines,” Dr Quek explains.
And these water treatment measures are vitally important.
“Despite some concern in the community, drinking water fluoridation is well-established to be highly effective and an extremely safe practice,” Professor Khan says.
“Dissolved chlorine is very effective for ‘killing’, or inactivating, pathogenic microorganisms that would otherwise do us harm."
Drinking water disinfection with chlorine has saved many millions of lives throughout the last century.Professor Stuart Khan
Why does water quality and taste vary across Australia?
Drinking water quality can vary even between our capital cities. This is partly due to the variation in water sources, Professor Khan explains.
“Some of these cities rely on groundwater, which can vary in mineral and salt composition. Some use water from lakes or dams and these can be affected by the growth of algae. Many of these cities supplement their drinking water with desalinated seawater, which is highly purified, but is also another source of variability.”
Warragamba Dam provides drinking water for Sydney. Credit: Deeva Sood/Unsplash
“In rural and remote areas, drinking water may come from a range of sources including bores, rivers, or rainwater tanks. The level of treatment and system resilience can vary depending on the local infrastructure, operational support, and environmental conditions,” Dr Quek says.
There are also differences depending on whether the drinking water has been sourced from groundwater or surface water.
“Many remote communities rely on groundwater, and groundwater quality can be impacted by naturally occurring minerals, things such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, or in some cases, arsenic and uranium. It is important to understand what levels people may be exposed to, in order to understand the risks,” Professor Khan explains.
“Other communities rely on surface water, such as creeks and rivers, and water quality can fluctuate following rainfall and other local climate events.”
What if environmental events are impacting your drinking water?
Your local health authorities and water utilities will provide guidance.
Boiling or filtering the water may be recommended as a precautionary measure when there is a known or suspected risk to water quality.Dr Emily Quek
"So for example, following extreme weather events like flooding, or if there is concern that treatment barriers may not be fully effective,” Dr Quek explains.
Prior to the 1980s, many houses in Australia were constructed using lead pipes or lead soldering in their plumbing.
In these older buildings, the dissolution of lead from pipework into water is a relatively slow process and mostly occurs after water has been allowed to sit still in pipework for an extended period.
“If you're worried, let the tap run for a few seconds before using it, especially in the morning,” Dr Quek says.
Flooding events can impact local drinking water supplies. Credit: Wes Warren/Unsplash
What if you notice a change in your drinking water?
“You can contact your water supplier to express concerns. Does the water taste, smell, or look different? Are your concerns derived from illnesses within your household? Any information will assist the water supplier to diagnose and assess potential problems,” Professor Khan explains.
You can find most water quality data, reports and test results online, so contact your local water supplier for guidance.
For more information about drinking water in Australia visit:
Subscribe to or follow the Australia Explained podcast for more valuable information and tips about settling into your new life in Australia.
Do you have any questions or topic ideas? Send us an email to australiaexplained@sbs.com.au
