Not all water is safe to drink. Many things, such as dirt, bugs, chemicals and minerals can be in our water, and while most of these will not harm us, some can make us very sick. They can also make our water taste funny.
To make sure our water is safe to drink, it must go through a treatment process from the time it leaves its source, before it comes out of your tap.
All of our water comes from a ground water or surface water source (e.g. river, lake, dam, catchment, bore or well), but this water is dirty and should not be used for drinking. It contains particles that need to be removed. This is done through sedimentation first, which removes the bigger particles, and then filtration which removes the smaller particles.
Next, the water must be disinfected to destroy any micro-organisms that could make us sick.
Now that the water is clean, fluoride is added (to keep our teeth healthy) and the pH level is adjusted to make sure the water is not too acidic.
At the end of this process the clean water is stored in tanks all over South Australia, so it can be delivered when communities need it.
You will find a full explanation of this process (with diagrams) in the PDF below.
Some communities have a special tap in the kitchen just for drinking water (this should have a blue sticker). The tap which is not safe to drink from should have a red sticker. If you are not sure which tap is safe to drink from in your community, you should ask someone for advice.
The following communities have dual taps:
- Indulkana
- Mimili
- Nepabunna
- Oak Valley
- Kaltijiti
- Nyapari
