Ipswich City Council

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Our Customer Service Standards

Water Quality

Ipswich Water is committed to ensuring the provision of quality drinking water meeting and exceeding the criteria of the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

Good drinking water is essential for healthy communities. Achieving quality water supply relies on a number of key activities in which Ipswich Water is engaged:

Protecting water supplies and catchments
Treating water to ensure no unwanted microbiological organisms are able to cause disease
Developing a system to safely convey water from the source to the consumer
Treating water to the latest Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2004)

To ensure our ongoing ability to provide quality drinking water to our customers in accordance with the Guidelines, we are implementing a Hazards Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, involving the review of our entire potable (town) water system, and forming part of our commitments to continuous improvement.

HACCP is a quality-management system, covering water as it travels from the dam, through the water treatment process and to your tap. It is used in the food industry worldwide to protect the quality of the end-product to the customer - any results failing to meet strict internal quality limits are investigated and corrective actions are put in place.

In the 2005/2006 financial year, our Environmental Laboratory conducted more than 10,000 water quality tests for microbiological, physical and chemical parameters routinely at various sites around the supply area to assure that the water delivered to our community is of the highest quality.

Treating water

In the quest to ensure the highest quality town water, it is essential that water is treated to ensure community health and well being. Ipswich's town water supplies are purchased from Brisbane City Council whose water treatment process involves a combination of coagulation, filtration and disinfection.

Coagulation: a chemical called a coagulant (generally aluminium sulphate or alum) is used to remove fine particles like clay, silt and algae by binding the particles into large clumps that can be removed by filtration.

Filtration: filtration is the passage of water through a bed of fine particles (eg. sand and gravel), which removes fine suspended solids and larger micro-organisms.

Disinfection: this is perhaps the most important treatment process. It inactivates micro-organisms, rather than removing them. Chlorine disinfection (with ammonia addition to form chloramine) is employed by Brisbane City Council at the Mt Crosby Treatment Plant and later by Ipswich Water at our reservoirs to prevent re-growth of bacteria and maintain water quality. Chlorine is the disinfectant used most widely in Australia.

Water authorities worldwide add minimum amounts of chemicals to water supply in order to ensure maximum health and safety of their customers. Our town water has undergone the following chemical treatments:

aluminium sulphate (alum) is added as a coagulant to ensure our treated drinking water is clean and clear;
lime is added to ensure the pH is slightly alkaline to make it taste better and be less corrosive to our pipes;
ammonia and chlorine are added to form the chloramine necessary for disinfection; and
fluoride is not added to Ipswich City's water but occurs naturally with less than 0.1 mg/L.

Hardness

Water is described as hard when it is difficult to make a lather or suds when washing. Calcium and magnesium, which are common naturally occurring elements in water, cause hardness in drinking water.

The average hardness of our water is 110mg/L calcium carbonate; 5.6 0 (degrees German); 70 (degrees Clark); or one millimole/L.

Filters and bottled water

Our water is safe for consumption, meaning there is no need for consumers to install filter devices or drink bottled water for health reasons.

Some suppliers of home water treatment devices are alarmist, misleading consumers with ambiguous statements to market their products for supposed health reasons. Residents need to be aware of aggressive marketing and sales gimmicks for water purification systems and bottled water.

These include:

claims that Ipswich's tap water has impurities;
tests that run an electric current through iron rods placed in the water, producing a brown scum on the surface; and
testing chlorine levels in your tap water and recommending that you buy a filter when tests show the presence of chlorine.

Home treatment products can potentially be unhealthy if they remove essential nutrients and minerals from the water that a healthy body needs. There is also a risk of sub-standard water quality if you don't replace filters regularly.

Be aware that bottled water does not need to meet the same stringent health guidelines as tap water. In fact, some bottled mineral waters have more salts and bacteria than are recommended for tap water.

Water Pressure and Flows

Ipswich Water has a standard minimum pressure that must be provided to Ipswich City Council consumers in urban areas. The minimum pressure to be provided at the property boundary (or water meter) during the peak demand period is 220 kPa (kilo Pascals) or 22m head of water. In other words, at your property water would rise 22 metres up a vertical pipe.

Actual pressure experienced throughout the city varies depending the time of day and how much water is being used. Pressures tend to be lower around 7.00am and 7.00pm which are the peak periods for urban water use within our community. The more water that flows through the pipes, the more energy is lost and lower the available pressures.

In most Ipswich City Council areas, water pressure is in the range of 30m to 70m head of water (300-700kPa).

Leakage and Pressure Management

Ipswich Water us currently undertaking its Water Leakage and Pressure Management initiative. As part of a wider regional strategic plan, we have commenced work to ensure the responsible management of our precious water resources now and for the future.

This initiative seeks to reduce water wastage within our reticulated water network and ensure water pressure throughout the system as a whole more adequately meets our customers' needs. The Water Leakage and Pressure Management initiative is about continuity of supply and proper maintenance and care of our asset base.

For questions relating to problems with your water pressure, please refer to Faults and Emergencies - Water Pressure and Flows.

For more information on our Customer Service Standards, please download our brochure.

Last Updated 16 Oct 2007 |

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