Ancient water tastes best!

Ancient water tastes best!

Ancient water tastes best!
Date: 09-Nov-2015

Barcaldine Regional Council has taken out the 2015 Ixom Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test at the Queensland Water Directorate’s second annual Innovation Forum on Thursday, 5 November with the ancient water from the Great Artesian Basin selected as the best by conference delegates through more than 300 individual “tastes.”

Barcaldine Regional Council delivers water and sewage services to the five small towns of Alpha, Aramac, Barcaldine, Jericho and Muttaburra. 

Barcaldine Mayor Rob Chandler said the Taste Test was a great opportunity for Council’s staff to be recognised for the superb job they do in providing top quality water to its residents.  

“Council would not be accepting this Award had it not been for the efforts of team in Barcaldine.  Thanks also to the Outback Regional Water Alliance who has assisted many outback Councils with their water services. This Award shows that in western Queensland we do not only have great attractions but also great water, sourced from the Great Artesian Basin!”

qldwater CEO Dave Cameron said the taste test was about more than just how good the water tasted but also to help inform the community about how much effort goes into providing quality drinking water – an essential, sustainable service provided 24/7 by the staff of our local water utilities.

As usual in the state finals, the results were very close and Barcaldine narrowly pipped Livingstone to take the honours.

Barcaldine will take on the NSW winner in the fourth Water of Origin Taste Test to be held at the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia Conference in 2016. Queensland has beaten NSW for two years in a row with water from Richmond and Bundaberg beating NSW winners Orange and Bega Valley respectively.  

The taste test forms part of the qldwater on tap campaign, which aims to show our communities the benefits of safe, secure and sustainable water services and promoting tap water as a smarter choice. Through qldwater on tap we hope to assist our members to find meaningful ways to engage with their communities.  

ABOUT THE QUEENSLAND WATER INDUSTRY AND THE REGIONAL WINNERS

With 75 drinking water service providers around the state – mostly owned and run by local government organisations – and over 300 schemes (or community water supplies), the quest to find the top drop of tap water in Queensland was divided into six regional semi-finals before the final six battled it out at the State Final event. The contenders were:

  • Central Queensland – Livingstone Shire Council
    Less than two months after Tropical Cyclone Marcia wreaked havoc in Yeppoon, Livingstone Shire Council took out the first regional final of the 2015 Ixom Best of the Best Queensland Water Taste Test. Livingstone Shire Council’s Woodbury Water Treatment sources its water from the dunal fed aquifer in Byfield National Park. It is well recognised as being some of the purest water in Australia so it is not surprising that it has made it through to this year’s final.  
  • Western Queensland - Barcaldine Regional Council 
    Barcaldine Regional Council delivers water and sewage services to the five small towns of Alpha, Aramac, Barcaldine, Jericho and Muttaburra. Known as the Garden City of the West, Barcaldine’s water is sourced from the Great Artesian Basin and supplied by two bores at a temperature of about 47°C. 
  • Far North Queensland – Cairns Regional Council
    Cairns Regional Council’s Mountain View treatment plan sources water from the Little Mulgrave River and supplies 30 connections in a rural locality to the south-west of Cairns. Water passes through a 50-micron pre-filter screen then through an additional two sets of bag filters, which screen down to 1-micron (or one thousandth of a millimeter), before passing through a UV disinfection system, and into the water storage reservoirs. Once in the storage reservoirs the water disinfection is automatically sampled, monitored and maintained with residual chlorination up to the delivery through the network to consumers.
  • North Queensland – Townsville City Council
    Townsville City Council’s Ross River scheme sources water from the Ross River Dam before releasing it to the Douglas WTP for treatment. With a catchment area of 750 km2 and a capacity of 233 187 ML, Ross River Dam is Townsville’s primary water source. During extended drought periods, if the water level in Ross River Dam is below 10 per cent of capacity, supplementary water supply is sourced from the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme (BHWSS) via the Haughton pipeline and pumping station.
  • South East Queensland – City of Gold Coast
    The City of Gold Coast supplies water to 238,000 homes and include an advanced recycled water treatment plant at Pimpama, 3168 kilometres of water mains, 57 water pump stations, 58 water supply reservoirs and five re-chlorination facilities. Gold Coast purchases water from the State Government’s bulk water supply which includes the Hinze Dam and Tugun Desalination Plant. 
  • South West Queensland - Balonne Shire Council’s Dirribandi Scheme
    Balonne Shire Council’s Dirribandi scheme gets its water from the Balonne Minor River and uses conventional water treatment processes like alum, magnafloc and filtration before the water is distributed to residents. During times of higher use, the river water is shandied with 25% of Great Artesian Basin bore water.
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