Drinking water quality in regional Hunter New England, New South Wales, Australia, 2001-2015

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of drinking water quality verification monitoring as a means of improving preventive measures on drinking water quality management in regional New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Water sampling and E. coli detection data were obtained from the NSW Drinking Water Database. Statistical analysis was performed using Incidence Rate Ratios to compare the relationship between the proportion of samples collected to the tests allocated based on population served (sampling adequacy), E. coli detection and the relationship between sampling adequacy and E. coli detections over time. Sampling adequacy and E. coli detections significantly improved during the study period. Sampling adequacy was significantly lower in smaller populations (IRR = 0.83, p = 0.036). E. coli detections were significantly increased in smaller communities (IRR = 4.3, p = 0.01) and in summer (IRR = 2.7, p = < 0.001). There was a strong inverse correlation between improved sampling adequacy and decreased E. coli detections (Spearman’s rho = −0.821; p < 0.0001). This research has highlighted the value of continued assistance to water utilities in the implementation of drinking water management systems to improve drinking water safety.

KEYWORDS:

• Drinking water quality
• drinking water monitoring
• sampling adequacy

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Dr Katrina wall for helping in data collection and the NSW Health Water Unit for the permission to use the NSW Drinking Water Database as the source of data

Additional information

Funding

No funding declared

Notes on contributors

Fidelis Godfrey Jaravani

Fidelis Godfrey Jaravani is a PhD scholar at James Cook University, Queensland and an Environmental Health Officer at Hunter New England Local Health District, New South Wales. He holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Health from Western Sydney University, NSW. Fidelis has been a practicing Environmental Health Officer since 1987. He believes in the triangulation of environmental health policy, practice, and research to continuously generate and appraise evidence, gaps, and improvements in environmental health. Understanding the quality of drinking water supports him in advocacy for improved water quality resource prioritisation in rural areas of NSW. Participation in the NSW Housing for Health and Aboriginal Communities Water and Sewerage Programs motivated him to want to learn more about Aboriginal communities’ drinking water supply perceptions and the contribution of drinking water to .Closing the Gap

Michelle Butler

Michelle Butler is a senior statistician with Hunter New England Population Health. She has worked in all areas of population health from health promotion work on smoking cessation, school physical activity right through to health protection work of surveillance, communicable diseases, immunisation and environmental health. Michelle has co-authored >20 peer reviewed journal articles in these areas.

Paul Byleveld

Dr Paul Byleveld is the Manager, Water Unit, Environmental Health, New South Wales Health. Paul has been awarded the Public Service Medal for the development of improved water quality and public health in NSW. As well as his work in promoting safe drinking water in NSW and out of hours crisis management. Paul’s notable achievements include the establishment of the Aboriginal communities Water and Sewerage Program, a NSW drinking water monitoring program and the State-wide database. His knowledge and expertise in clean drinking water and sanitation has not only benefited residents in NSW but has been saving lives after natural disasters overseas. Dr Byleveld has been deployed overseas with Australian Government emergency response teams to help after the tsunami in Banda Aceh and the Yogyakarta earthquake in Indonesia. He has also helped after natural disasters in the Solomon Islands, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, India and Lebanon where he has either established clean drinking water, delivered portable water or developed water recovery plans.

David N. Durrheim

Professor David N. Durrheim is Conjoint Professor of Public Health Medicine, University of Newcastle, and Director - Health Protection, Hunter New England Health. He is a Public Health Physician with an established track record in conducting public research that has an operational focus and is translational in nature. His ability to use operational research findings to assist local public health programs to improve their surveillance and service delivery, particularly in challenging under-resourced environments, has resulted in a number of awards and international recognition. Professor Durrheim is an outspoken advocate for equitable global access to effective public health measures, particularly immunisation. He has been instrumental in developing novel surveillance systems to detect and facilitate response to emerging infectious disease risks. He has served as an expert adviser and consultant to a number of World Health Organisation (WHO), regional and national health programs in the African and Pacific Regions. He continues to serve on various Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation working groups advising the WHO, along with being Chair of the National Polio Elimination Certification Committee and Western Pacific Regional Measles Elimination Verification Commission.

Peter. D. Massey

Associate Professor Peter. D. Massey is a Clinical Nurse Consultant and Program Manager for Health Protection with Hunter New England Population Health. He has worked in public health in rural NSW for about 30 years and has expertise in immunisation, communicable disease control, zoonoses, public health emergencies and Aboriginal health. He brings a strong rural and equity focus to all aspects of public health and experience in research capacity building and community based research. Associate Professor Massey currently has 75 publications and more than $2.4 million in grants. He leads a team of Clinical Nurse Consultants, Public Health Physicians and other Public Health staff in the control of communicable diseases for the Hunter New England Local Health District. He has strengths in mixed methods research, translational research, and has research experience in zoonoses and One Health.

Julie Collins

Julie Collins is a Field Epidemiologist working with Hunter New England Health and the University of Newcastle. She has a strong interest in building capacity in the Pacific region, and is currently supporting field epidemiology training programs in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region. Julie is a graduate of the Master of Applied Epidemiology (FETP) training program in Australia and has worked for Hunter New England Health in the areas of communicable diseases, foodborne diseases and environmental health.

Jenni A. Judd

Dr Jenni A. Judd is a Professor in Health Promotion at the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, Centre for Indigenous Health Equity Research, Central Queensland University. Jenni has extensive practical and applied research experience in a broad range of environments including urban, rural, tropical and remote Indigenous communities and with health care providers in the NT, WA, QLD and NSW. Her research has been applied and focused on capacity building and changing practice and policy in: Mental Health; Chronic Disease Management; Health promotion and public health practice in Primary Health care providers; Pandemic Influenza; Hendra virus risks with Equine Vets; and Strongyloidiasis in Indigenous communities. Jenni has a national and international profile in health promotion, indigenous health and cross-cultural communication evidenced by as evidenced by her leadership in the Australian Health Promotion Association and from working in partnership with Indigenous practitioners in the International Network of Indigenous Health Promotion Professionals (INIHPP). Jenni’s career focus is to contribute to the improvement of health and educational outcomes for the Australian population including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Cultural and Linguistically Diverse peoples.

Michael Oelgemöller

Dr Michael Oelgemöller is an Associate Professor at James Cook University, where he leads the Applied and Green Photochemistry Research Group. He received his PhD from the University of Cologne in 1999. He was a researcher at the ERATO-JST Photochirogenesis project in Osaka (1999-2001) and at Bayer CropScience K.K. Japan in Yuki (2001-2004). From 2004-2008 he held a position as a lecturer in Organic and Medicinal Chemistry at Dublin City University. In February 2009 he joined James Cook University in Townsville as an Associate Professor in Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry. His research activities range from the development of continuous-flow photoreactors to the solar manufacturing of chemicals, photochemical synthesis of bioactive compounds, photostability testing and photochemical degradation of organic and microbial pollutants. He has received several awards and has been a visiting professor at various universities in Asia and Europe.