The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) were developed to provide regulations that ensure drinking water safety. Drinking water under the guidelines is described as water used for human consumption, and it is obtained through a tap or food made using water. It also ensures that water quality meets the intended purpose of use. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) works with the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council to develop the drinking water guidelines. The water guidelines were developed under the National Water Quality Management Strategy (NWQMS).
The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines provides a framework that ensures proper management and use of drinking water. It covers areas such as management of drinking water quality, characteristics of water, monitoring of drinking water systems, disinfection and treatment of drinking water, and sampling and statistics. These sections represent the overall drinking water management components that are observed in the application of the ADWG.
Consequently, the guidelines provide a legislative and administrative framework used to enforce accountability among the drinking water suppliers. It is also applicable to auditors who assess the safety of water supplies, for instance, territory and state health authorities. The ADWG uses health-related guideline value and the aesthetic guideline value to define the accepted water quality levels based on water characteristics, taste, appearance and odour. The guideline values are essential for assessing drinking water quality and applicable for the management of water systems.
Additionally, the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) undergoes regular revisions to ensure it covers emerging trends regarding water quality. The NHMRC collaborates with other stakeholders such as water specialists, health professionals, and the community. The ultimate goal is to protect consumers of drinking water across Australia.
Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) are now compiled and available in ESdat at https://www.esdat.net/Environmental_Standards.aspx or by synching against our reference system.
Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG).
ESdat is a specialist environmental database system; used to validate and import a broad spectrum of Environmental Data and help users analyze and report it.
Environmental Standards. All compiled environmental guidelines and standards are shown on the ESdat website. These are pre-loaded into ESdat Online.
Reference
NHMRC (n.d). Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Retrieved from https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/australian-drinking-water-guidelines
