Katherine’s tap water last month achieved one of its best ever results for PFAS contamination.
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Power and Water has updated its water testing results of Katherine’s water, averaged across the month.
The town’s tap water recorded 0.01, well under the recommended health limit of 0.07.
Of course, because of water restrictions the treatment plant did not have to use any bore water so the result had the obvious benefit of a clean river before the breaking rains foul things up.
Still, it is the best tap water result for many months.
Back in March, the tap water was 0.052 and in recent months it has hovered around the 0.02 and 0.03 mark, for micrograms per litre.
The bore water samples were still a worrying 0.2 in the most recent tests.
Traditionally bore water is relied on in Katherine when the breaking rains make the river too bacteria-laden and turbid to be used in drinking water.
The Katherine Times has received several complaints from residents about the foaming, dirty colour and a bad smell coming from the water this week.
The most recent Power and Water results represent the average results from 290 tap water samples, 110 bore water and 68 river water samples to September 29.