There have been many occasions over the last decade where various Australian towns or cities have fallen victim to contaminated tap water. This time, it’s Victoria’s turn.
Inverloch in Victoria Have Been Warned About Contaminated Tap Water
The people of Inverloch were told to boil tap water before drinking or brushing teeth due to contamination. South Gippsland Water said teams were working relentlessly to fix the problem and it could take a week before it is back to normal.
Their advice was to keep an eye out for gastro-like symptoms and consult a doctor if they arise. Two water trailers were made available for community members who didn’t own a water filter.
Other recent contaminations throughout 2022 so far had Brisbane residents with earthy tasting water due to seasonal algal blooming, and the town of Lismore flooded, in what was a once in a 500-year event.
Prior to that, Melbourne had contaminations, and issued boil water warnings to their residents during 2021.
Usually it takes time before people become aware of water contamination and by that stage, it may be too late.
How To Identify Contaminated Water
While you may sometimes be able to tell your water is contaminated by the taste, many times you can't.
Viruses, bacteria and even fluoride are among contaminants that have no taste.
How To Avoid Contaminated Water Risks
The simplest way to avoid getting sick due to contaminated water is to have a water filter installed in your kitchen. There are plenty of reasons to filter your water and this is one of them.
If you find out your water has been contaminated, you can run out to the shops and get some bottled water, but you don’t know how long you’ll be drinking bottled water for and you may already have consumed contaminated water anyway. Plus, there are a number of issues with drinking bottled water too.
The second option is boil your water. This helps a little but really depends on the type of contamination in the water. Boiling water only kills some of the bacteria, it doesn’t remove it.
Boiling water also doesn’t remove any other contaminations such as heavy metals, viruses, pesticides or herbicides or any other foreign material.
The the only definitive way to protect your family from water contamination is to use a water filter.
Types Of Water Filters
There are numerous types of filtration options to choose from and they largely depend on the size of your family and the water demand:
Benchtop Gravity Water Filters are compact, portable and incredibly easy to use and set up.
Other Benchtop Water Filters and Under Sink Water Filters are the most common choice for many Australian families because they offer diverse cartridge options. They are simple to install and create excellent quality water at an affordable price. The diverter simple screws on to your existing faucet.
Reverse Osmosis systems remove the most amount of contaminants out of these options but at a considerable cost to you, the consumer, and the environment. They require electricity and waste about 50% of the water every time they are used. However, RO systems have the slowest flow rate and will give you water with the least amount of contaminants. (Depending which one you buy, of course!)
If you would like to learn more about contamination, check out the learning centre or contact us.
We’d be delighted to help.