Water Quality Guidelines and Reports

Water Quality Guidelines and Reports

Australian Drinking Water Guidelines

The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2011 provide a framework for the management of water supplies from the catchment to the consumer's tap. These guidelines set health-related and aesthetic guideline limits for safe drinking water and are issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council

Tasmanian Drinking Water Quality Guidelines

Issued under the Public Health Act 1997, the Drinking Water Quality Guidelines 2015 establish best practice frameworks for controlling authorities to effectively manage drinking water quality. These are legally enforceable requirements and replace the 2005 version of the guidelines.

Specific requirements for managing and controlling water so as it does not pose a risk to public health are outlined for each of the following:

  1. The Regulated Entity – TasWater
  2. Private Water Suppliers
  3. Commercial Water Carriers
  4. Agencies and Public Authorities
  5. Local Councils

Find more information on these guidelines from the DHHS state water officer on 1800 671 738.

Tasmanian Drinking Water Quality Reports

Each year TasWater submits a report to the Director of Public Health detailing the monitoring, compliance and management activities of drinking water supplies in Tasmania.

The Drinking Water Quality Guidelines detail the required contents of that report and states that the Director may publish a report on the drinking water systems. Where the Director has published an annual report, these can be found in the links below.

TasWater must make their annual report publicly accessible. These reports include all the monitoring data required to demonstrate the compliance of a drinking water system.

Additionally, TasWater operate and maintain a water quality portal where the user can access the latest drinking water quality results for their supply system. Alternatively, you can call TasWater on 136 992 for help accessing this data.

The Office of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator regulates water and sewerage prices and services and publishes industry performance reports. These reports set out the performance of TasWater and provide insights to consumers and stakeholders of the ongoing capability of TasWater by looking at trends in its performance over time in several key areas.

The reports also sets out the key priorities for TasWater's improved performance as identified by each of the industry regulators and TasWater itself.

In the absence of a current DoH report being listed below, information can be sought from the TasWater annual report and the performance reports produced by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator. The Director of Public Health verifies the contents and compliance data prior to TasWater publishing their Report and authors the drinking water sections of the Tasmanian Economic Regulator’s Report. These external Reports can be relied upon for being accurate and contemporary. Issues of water quality can be referred to the State Water Officer on 1800 671 738 or via email on public.health@health.tas.gov.au

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

Previous Annual Drinking Water Quality Reports >

January 2021