Katherine residents continue to do their bit in solving the PFAS water contamination dilemma.
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Residents used 66.1 megalitres of treated water last week, in what is traditionally the biggest water use month of the year.
There have so far been no early rains to help out either.
Our average water consumption for the same week, against the past two years, is 81.3 megalitres.
That’s a whopping saving of 15.2 million litres of water, according to statistics from Power and Water. Or 19 per cent below average.
Water restrictions were introduced in Katherine in August to cope with PFAS chemical contamination in town drinking water.
Back then the authorities said they needed Katherine’s water consumption dropped by 20 per cent to allow them to guarantee the safety of drinking water supplies.
A new $4 million water treatment plant, rushed to the town by the Department of Defence, is hoped to come on line in the next few weeks to treat one megalitre of bore water per day.
While the bore water was last tested at 0.2 micrograms per litre, well above the recommended safe limit of 0.07, authorities say the combination of the new filtration system and the water restrictions will maintain safe supplies during these peak months.
NT Government agencies are investigating a long-term fix for Katherine’s water which may involve either new supply bores to the north of the Katherine river or a much bigger upgrade to the water treatment plant.
Suggestions by some residents that a better long-term fix would be to raise the Donkey Camp weir wall or provide some other dam on the river does not appear to be part of those investigations.
“Power and Water is focused on providing an appropriate solution to Katherine’s water supply and is looking at alternative ground water supplies north of Katherine and improving the reliability of the river water service without significantly expanding it,” a spokeswoman said today.
“This will provide an alternative source rather than relying solely on river water.”