Following a "debrief" with government agencies last week about the boil water alerts which impacted 43,000 people for over a month, the Dubbo Regional Council say they will have a "more resilient" process for water treatment moving forward.
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Last week, Deputy Premier Paul Toole told the Daily Liberal government agencies would meet with council to discuss July's boil water alerts and council's response to them.
The meeting was chaired by an independent consultant and officials from the Dubbo Regional Council, NSW Health's public health and water units and the Department of Planning and Environment water unit were in attendance.
Dubbo Regional Council CEO Murray Wood said the aim of the meeting was to understand how council and the agencies managed the situation. He assured that following the debriefing process - which is ongoing - council will have a "more resilient water treatment and distribution management processes"
"The agencies reflected on the effectiveness of council's emergency management processes and are seeking to apply the lessons learned to a state-wide approach," he said.
"There are ongoing meetings to debrief on the operational matters that led to the out of specification water being produced from the poor quality flood water. That involves operational staff and Department of Planning and Environment technical staff."
"This will identify ways to better manage the ongoing risks from ongoing floods, future droughts and poor quality river water."
The boil water alerts were triggered on the 7th of July after water measured above the 0.5 turbidity threshold. Turbidity measures the presence of suspended particles in water, and, above the 0.5 threshold there is a risk that cryptosporidium - a microscopic parasite that causes diarrhoea - can pass through filters.
"The catchment, given the consistent and widespread rainfall, has a much higher risk of cryptosporidium in the wider landscape than is normally the case," said Mr Wood.
"That is why there was a focus by Health NSW on dilutions throughout the system as the appropriate health risk management response to the production of out of specification water. Remember that cryptosporidium is not killed by chlorine but is filtered out."
Previous flooding events had not led to boil water alerts as, prior to November 2020, the turbidity threshold was set at 1.
Mr Wood said the lowering of the threshold was agreed upon in a stakeholder meeting between the council and government agencies, recognising scientific research which showed the cryptosporidium risk.
In the days immediately following the alert, council reconfigured the John Gilbert Water Treatment Plant to inject more polymers - which help coagulate tiny particles so they can be captured more effectively by the filter - into the water.
This change led to the plant producing safe water, however, all the contaminated water had to be flushed from the town's pipes before the alerts were lifted.
Mr Wood maintains council and government agencies were in communication and working effectively together throughout the whole process and in the weeks following.
"The staff of agencies and council have a strong working relationship that is being maintained by all parties. Any suggestion otherwise is incorrect," he said.
He said council has a "significant capital works budget" for water supply services and will look at ways to future-proof the town's water treatment processes.
This could include the installation of a UV treatment capacity at the John Gilbert Water Treatment Plant, subject of a future report to council.
"UV kills cryptosporidium and given the more stringent and appropriate turbidity thresholds this would be an example of Council investing in infrastructure for more resilient water supply," he said.
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