Paluma township water supply update
Date published: 11 November 2016
Paluma residents should continue to boil their drinking water.
Townsville Water has been working with Queensland Health to carry out regular testing of the township’s raw water supply, which returned a positive count of cryptosporidium two weeks ago.
Three tests have returned a clear result for cryptosporidium however a positive count of giardia was detected in a recent sample.
The advice to boil water will remain in place until council receives the all clear.
Signs advising residents not to drink the water remain on public taps and at facilities in the township. Electronic message boards at the base of the hill and at both entries to the township are also in place.
Townsville Water and Waste Acting General Manager Mark Vis said according to the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, there were various strains of giardia with no means of identifying which strains were infectious to humans.
“The water for the Paluma township is drawn from a weir on a small creek and our current treatment process only involves adding chlorine, which alone will not eliminate giardia,” Mr Vis said.
“We will work with Queensland Health to determine what conditions would allow us to lift the boil water notice.”
The boil water notice applies only to the Paluma Township. No other council water supply is impacted.
