Australian Water Quality

With almost universal access to clean water, Australia and New Zealand are among the lucky countries. Nonetheless, from time to time even the quality of our water is questionable.

In 1998, Sydney experienced a Giardia and Cryptosporidium scare which saw the government issue warnings against drinking ordinary tap water.

And, when tested, 61% of 70 major Australian river basins showed excessive levels of salinity, phosphorus and nitrogen. The same test showed major water quality issues in catchment areas of the North East Coast, Murray Darling, South East Coast and South West Coast.

Bottled water is not necessarily a better option.

Drinking from bottles spreads bacteria from the mouth into the bottle. If left at room temperature, these bacteria can then multiply. For this reason, bottled water should never be opened then left for drinking later.

In Australia (unlike in Europe) statutory bottled water purity standards are lower than those of ordinary tap water. Tests show that 84% of people do not discern any taste difference between bottled and tap water*.

In addition, bottled water is up to 1,000 times more expensive than what is available from your tap.

*Source: Choice Magazine July 2005