Water Quality Results
North East Water is responsible for the collection, treatment and distribution of safe drinking water.
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Using The Map
The two indicator lights (green or red) indicate whether there has been a failure to comply with the guidelines during the past month. A 
green light indicates 100% compliance with the guidelines, while a 
red light indicates less than 100% compliance. The light on the left is for basic Physico/chemical compliance and the one on the right for Bacteriological - E.coli compliance.
For a more detailed summary of your towns water quality compliance click on the town of interest to see your most recent test results and compliance.
Water Quality Testing
North East Water (NEW) is responsible for collection, treatment and distribution of safe drinking water for the towns represented on the map above.
The Victorian parliament has passed new regulations called the Safe Drinking Water Act, which came into force on 1 July 2004. The Act requires all Victorian Water Authorities to implement numerous measures to protect public health by ensuring a safe drinking water supply.
NEW uses a Drinking Water Quality Management System (DWQMS), to ensure that we meet the regulatory requirements at a minimum. The DWQMS includes:
- Catchment to tap risk assessments of each of our supplies
- A Drinking Water Quality Policy
- Water quality risk management plans
- Commitment to informing the public about water quality information.
The Act also requires us to implement a more stringent water quality monitoring program. In addition to our routine daily checks, we are now testing weekly for E.Coli and turbidity, and monthly for aluminium and the disinfection by-products. Sampling and analysis is conducted by an accredited, external party, Water ECOscience.
What does all the testing tell us?
E.coli are bacteria of faecal origin and are often associated with gastro illness. Coliforms are an indicator of general system cleanliness and are rarely a threat to health. Coliform compliance no longer has to be reported to the Department of Human Services (DHS) under the 2004 Safe Drinking Water Regulations. For the four community choice towns of Whitfield, Corryong, Mount Beauty and Myrtleford, it is difficult to maintain zero coliforms in the distribution system because there is no disinfectant residual.
Turbidity is an aesthetic parameter relating to the cloudiness of water. Iron and manganese are aesthetic parameters that can lead to tastes and odours in the water and staining of laundry. The other parameters listed are chemicals or chemical by-products that are used in or arise from the use of different water treatment processes.
Blue-green algae sampling is performed by trained NEW staff on a weekly basis throughout the summer season and if identified as being present, samples are then sent to NATA-accredited laboratories for identification and enumeration. If algae numbers are sufficient, toxin analyses are performed on treated and untreated water to ensure safety of supply. No toxic algae blooms have been identified in any of NEW's water supplies since monitoring commenced 10 years ago.
Who do we have to report to?
All water quality results must be reported to the DHS monthly and any severe excursions from compliance, or algae blooms must be reported immediately. An independent report is also generated and submitted to the DHS by the contracted water quality testing laboratory to ensure accuracy of figures.
In addition, we will update water quality data on the web-site every month. In the event that water quality becomes a potential health hazard, we will do the following:
- Media release
- Radio announcements
- Letter drop.
Drinking Water Quality Management System
Protecting the health of our customers through the provision of high-quality treated drinking water is the cornerstone of our business. To assist us in achieving this aim, we maintain a Drinking Water Quality Management System (DWQMS), which combines elements of established risk management frameworks, including:
- The framework for drinking water quality management in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- Australian Drinking Water Guidelines
- The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point framework (HACCP)
- The International Standard AS/NZS ISO 9001 for Quality Management systems
The main thrust of the DWQMS is the development and implementation of comprehensive risk management plans that identify risks to water quality from the catchment to the customer's tap. This allows us to identify risks to water quality and implement management controls to minimise and mitigate their impacts.
Like our EMS and OHSMS, our DWQMS is externally certified for four of our major sites: head office and the Wodonga, Wangaratta and Benalla water treatment plants. The certification means these sites meet the standard for AS ISO 22000-2005 Food Safety Management Systems.
Drinking Water Quality Standards
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To calculate the 95 % upper confidence limit (UCL) of the mean for the previous 12 months turbidity data the following formula is used:
s = standard deviation
t(a) = student t statistic where: degrees of freedom is number of samples - 1; and probability is 0.05. This is calculated from statistical tables using the 2P values for 0.05.