enHealth national advice on lead in water

Supplying safe drinking water is our highest priority and we run an extensive drinking water quality monitoring program to ensure the safety of the water we supply.

We carry out regular comprehensive sampling not just at the water source (eg dams, groundwater, desalination plants), but also at treatment locations and at points along the water supply network for microbiological, chemical and physical parameters that are analysed by independent laboratories, as agreed with Department of Health.

In the 2017-18 reporting period we met 100 per cent of the water quality health standards set by the Department of Health.

There has been no detection of lead above guideline levels in the entire Water Corporation metropolitan water supply scheme since formal records began 18 years ago.

You can view our performance against water quality guidelines on our drinking water quality page.

Recommendations have been made by Federal Government’s Environmental Health Standing Committee for the community to flush water from taps before use as a precautionary measure, to remove water that may have stagnated in a building’s internal pipes. It’s important to note in Western Australia, and in most parts of Australia, the water utility’s responsibility ends at the point of supply – the customer’s water meter – so this advice relates to water that may have stagnated in a building’s internal pipes beyond the water meter.

Water Corporation encourages the community to capture water flushed as part of this process and re-use it for watering the garden or pot plants.

For more information about this advice please refer to the Environmental Health Standing Committee’s guidance statement.