WATER LEAD LEVELS

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (15:25): My question is to the Minister for Water and the River Murray. Is the minister aware that in routine water quality testing in the towns of Manna Hill, Olary, Oodla Wirra and Yunta lead levels exceeded the recommended Australian Drinking Water Guideline values over a two-year period between 19 January 2010 and 2 February 2012? The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines state:

For health-related characteristics, performance could not be regarded as satisfactory if the guideline values were exceeded more than rarely. This is consistent with using a high percentile such as a 95^th percentile...exceeding the guideline may, in some cases, have significant health effects.

According to FOI received by the opposition, lead levels in these four towns exceeded the safety guidelines against the 95^th percentile for over two years.

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:26): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will just put it in a bit of context. SA Water maintains the existing supply to the premises in the railway towns (outlined by the honourable member) that were reticulated and previously supplied by Australian National Railways. The water supplies to these towns were non-drinking at the time of the handover and continued to be non-drinking supplies of water.

SA Water is currently carting water to Terowie and Oodla Wirra and supplying bottled water to Cockburn because it is a non-potable supply. Some improvements to water quality have been made in recent years due to the increased maintenance as well as the introduction of filters and pumps at Yunta to take cleaner water from the local reservoirs. Pump and solar power has been upgraded and commissioned at Manna Hill, Cockburn and Olary during the 2010-11 financial year.

SA Water tests these townships on a monthly basis for a range of bacterial and chemical analysis. So we are aware, of course, that these supplies, given their very nature, are non-potable supplies of water, and that is why people do not drink them.

In testing these townships, we followed the recommended Australian Drinking Water Guideline response, where the detection of these characteristics has concentrations above the relevant health-related guideline value by reporting to the Department for Health and Ageing following established protocols. They may one day see, if they get into government, the number of files that you get from SA Water that relate to exceedences from time to time in various areas, not just in these non-potable water supplies.

The detections at the townships have been intermittent in nature, and every exceedence, I am told, has been discussed individually with the Department for Health and Ageing. In all instances, corrective actions were taken, including flushing and re-sampling. So, yes, I am aware of such exceedences.

What we have to do is seriously look at the way by which we supply water to these railway townships given, if you like, the costs that might be involved in the delivery of a potable water supply and some of the difficulties with that when you transpose the costs against it. As a result, SA Water will continue to ensure that those towns have access to water through those carting water processes. I reiterate the point that these supplies are non-potable drinking supplies of water for the very reason that you have described.