Supporting safe drinking water in regional NSW

Highlights included:

• continued work with the 83 local water utilities (mostly councils) that provide drinking water in regional NSW. The Public Health Act 2010 requires all water utilities to implement a risk-based drinking water management system
• the development of management systems, and the ongoing NSW Health Drinking Water Monitoring Program, helped identified opportunities for improvement in some drinking water supplies, informing the NSW Government’s Safe and Secure Water Program
• engagement of specialist contractors to help 41 local water utilities implement management systems, including the development of annual review templates, critical control point performance monitoring templates and incident response guidance, and support through mentoring, developing templates, development of standard operating procedures, assisting with catchment risk assessments and direct advice on improving treatment practices.