Drinking water

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To protect public health, the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers closely monitors and regulates drinking water in Queensland.

The Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 applies to all drinking water service providers. This includes all councils and organisations, which own one or more elements of water infrastructure and intend to charge for the water supply and are involved in harvesting, collecting treating, transmitting or reticulating water for drinking purposes.

Registered drinking water service providers are required to have an approved drinking water quality management plan (DWQMP) in place, within one year of commencing the drinking water service and comply with the plan and any conditions placed upon the plan, by the regulator.

The department ensures that service providers' DWQMPs meet the requirements of the Act.

For full information, read the Guideline for the preparation, review, and audit of DWQMPs (PDF, 3MB).

This guide details the obligations of drinking water service providers in Queensland.

Quality management plans for drinking water providers

A drinking water quality management plan (DWQMP) is the cornerstone document of a regulated risk management framework to ensure the safety of customers of drinking water service providers.

As a registered service provider supplying drinking water in Queensland, you are required to have an approved DWQMP in place.

DWQMPs are prepared by drinking water service providers and approved by the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers.

Use the following forms when preparing and amending a DWQMP:

Approved DWQMPs are required to be regularly reviewed and audited. As a service provider, you must also submit drinking water service annual reports summarising the implementation of your DWQMP. These annual reports must be published on your service provider website.

What is covered in a drinking water quality management plan

You must include in your DWQMP:

details of the infrastructure for providing the services
identification and assessment of the hazards that may affect water quality
identification of how you as the provider intends to manage the risks, including
- operational procedures
- management of incidents and emergencies
- risk improvements plans
details of the operational and verification monitoring of water quality.

Read the Guideline for the preparation, review, and audit of DWQMPs (PDF, 3MB).

When do I need to have an approved drinking water quality management plan

If you are an existing drinking water service provider, you will already have an approved DWQMP in place.

All newly registered drinking water service providers have 12 months from the date of registration to have an approved DWQMP in place. During this 12-month period, mandatory water quality monitoring and reporting will apply as detailed below.

Mandatory water quality monitoring and reporting

The department will issue a 'Monitoring and reporting requirement notice' to newly registered drinking water service providers. Service providers are required to monitor and report on their drinking water quality on a quarterly basis.

Compliance with the notice is mandatory and remains in place until the provider has an approved DWQMP.

The notice requires newly registered service providers to:

monitor and report on Escherichia coli (E. coli) in accordance with the Public Health Regulation 2005
continue with their existing drinking water quality monitoring program for other parameters (where one is in place), plus monitor any parameters the regulator states in the notice
report any incident or event that will or is likely to adversely affect drinking water quality
report all drinking water quality monitoring results on a quarterly basis.

Also consider...

Learn more about the Australian drinking water guidelines which provides a framework for managing quality, including advice on parameters, monitoring methodology, sampling locations and sampling frequency.
Read the Sampling procedures for drinking water (PDF, 475KB) from Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services.
Learn about Guidance on competencies for operators within drinking water treatment systems (PDF, 112KB).

Annual reporting for drinking water providers

Drinking water service providers must prepare a drinking water service annual report, under the requirements of the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008.

This is the report required under section 142 of the Act (previously called a drinking water quality management plan (DWQMP) report.

Purpose of the report

The purpose of the annual report is to demonstrate to your customers, stakeholders and the water supply regulator (i.e. the Director-General of the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers) that you have satisfactorily implemented your approved DWQMP each financial year.

You must make the annual report publicly available at your place of business and publish it on your website.

The annual reports must be submitted to the department in December each year. Specific dates for each service provider can be found in the information notice approving their DWQMP.

Report contents

Under the Act, the annual report must include the following information:

actions the service provider took to implement the DWQMP
details of compliance with water quality criteria for drinking water
incidents reported to the regulator
drinking water quality related customer complaints
DWQMP review outcomes
DWQMP audit findings
customer service standards review outcomes.

How to present the report

Read the Guideline for the preparation, review, and audit of DWQMPs (PDF, 3MB) for guidance on presenting the required information for your drinking water service annual report.

Submitting the report

Submit your annual report by:

Email: drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au

Mail:
Manager, Water Supply Regulation, Water Operations and Systems
Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers
PO Box 15216
CITY EAST QLD 4002

Quarterly reporting for drinking water providers

Quarterly reporting is only required for service providers operating under a 'Monitoring and reporting notice' (prior to approval of their drinking water quality management plan).

Quarterly reporting provides a summary of water quality monitoring that has been undertaken in the reporting quarter.

What to report

You should provide a summary of monitoring undertaken as described in the current monitoring program which was submitted to the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers following registration.

Reporting is based on a defined list of parameters.

Refer to Appendix C of the Explanatory notes and instructions: Drinking water quality: Quarterly report (PDF, 176KB).

You must submit quarterly reports to the department.

How to report

Complete the Drinking water quality: Current monitoring program: Form WSR502 (PDF, 635KB)

Read the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 140KB) for further assistance.

Complete the Drinking water quality: Quarterly report: Form WSR501 (PDF, 627KB)

Use the monitoring results table (PDF, 579KB) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 176KB) to help you complete the form.

Submit your completed quarterly report by email to drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

Due dates

Period	Due date
1 January to 31 March	30 April (same year)
1 April to 30 June	31 July (same year)
1 July to 30 September	31 October (same year)
1 October to 31 December	31 January (following year)

Contact us

For more information, email drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

Reporting drinking water incidents

Drinking water incidents must be reported to the water supply regulator (i.e. the Director-General of the Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers).

Generally, drinking water incidents include:

a detection of Escherichia coli (E. coli)
an exceedance of a health guideline value in the Australian drinking water guidelines (ADWG)
detections of parameters with no guideline valued in the ADWG
water quality events that a service provider cannot manage within existing processes and/or that may impact on the health of customers.

Drinking water quality

Note: The department does not manage drinking water supplies. If you have a problem with the quality of your drinking water, contact your drinking water service provider.

Your drinking water service provider is responsible for providing a safe and reliable water supply, and to rectify any problems that may occur. The department does not have operational control of individual provider's systems, and does not intervene on behalf of a customer.

How to report

Incidents must be reported by telephoning 1300 596 709. This number operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

All incidents must be reported immediately after the provider becomes aware of an incident.

Use the following forms to report an incident:

Notification of a drinking water event or detection of a parameter with no water quality criteria: Form WSR507 (PDF, 1.1MB) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 635KB)
Notice of non-compliance with water quality criteria: Drinking water: Form WSR017 (PDF, 439KB) (for service providers with an approved drinking water quality management plan (DWQMP)) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 174KB)
Drinking water quality: Incident reporting: Form WSR503 (PDF, 650KB) (for service providers without an approved DWQMP) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 158KB)

The following resources can assist when compiling information to report an incident.

Why incidents need to be reported

Provides assurance to the water supply regulator and Queensland Health that the incident is being managed appropriately to protect the health of customers.
Helps to identify trends or emerging issues that may not be adequately or appropriately addressed in the DWQMP.
Provides evidence that the DWQMP is being implemented and complied with.
Enables service providers to seek advice or guidance to appropriately manage incidents.
Incidents are assessed to determine if there are potential adverse public health impacts.
Some incidents are reported to Queensland Health to enable the provision of public health advice or risk assessment where necessary.

How incidents are managed by the water supply regulator

Incidents are reviewed and assessed for compliance against approved DWQMPs.

Detailed information on water quality and incident reporting are outlined in the Water quality and reporting guideline for a drinking water service (PDF, 564KB).

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulation

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of human-made chemicals widely used in products such as:

food packaging
paints and coatings
clothing and cosmetics.

In the past, some firefighting foams contained PFAS. This is no longer the case.

PFAS can contaminate water sources and may pose potential health risks to humans.

Read more about PFAS in the NHMRC Review of PFAS in Australian drinking water.

Regulatory approach to PFAS in Queensland

The Department of Local Government, Water and Volunteers (DLGWV) regulates the providers of safe drinking water in Queensland. We have adopted new health-based guideline values for PFAS in drinking water, following their recent publication in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG).

We have not changed the current regulatory approach the department takes in relation to drinking water.

Key requirements for drinking water providers

Each registered drinking water provider (DWP) is required to take a risk-based approach to ensure the safety of drinking water. This includes regularly assessing, managing, and monitoring the risk of PFAS or other contaminants as outlined in their individual Drinking Water Quality Management Plan (DWQMP).

Each DWP must comply with the health-based guideline value for all contaminants published in the current version of ADWG, including PFAS. As soon as new PFAS health-based guideline values are published in the ADWG, they become enforceable in Queensland.

Testing for PFAS

Each DWP over time will be required to test for PFAS to confirm compliance with the new thresholds.

The urgency of this testing is to be determined by each DWP based on their current level of risk of PFAS contamination in their drinking water supply.

Each DWP must continue testing for PFAS at least at the frequency specified in their currently approved DWQMP. For example:

Providers with a lower risk of PFAS contamination must undertake testing of each drinking water supply and re-assess the level of risk during the next scheduled review of their DWQMP.
Providers with a higher risk of PFAS contamination must decide when to test for compliance with the new health-based guideline values for each drinking water supply based on their current knowledge and available data. They are required to test and re-assess the level of risk with new data no later than during the next scheduled review of their DWQMP.

There may be some exclusions, for example, some providers may be currently reviewing their plans and have already completed the risk assessments. Contact the department if you are unsure or have questions via email drinkingwater.reporting@rdmw.qld.gov.au.

Reporting and managing PFAS

If PFAS is detected in drinking water, or in a location that represents the drinking water supplied to customers, at levels exceeding the new health-based guideline values, the responsible DWP must immediately notify the department as per the established incident reporting requirements and determine an appropriate management strategy. This may include:

sourcing alternative water supplies or implementing treatment processes to remove PFAS.

Each incident is to be managed by the responsible DWP in coordination with other agencies and the drinking water regulator (the DLGWV).

Working together for safe drinking water

We will continue to collaborate with all agencies to ensure the safety of Queensland's drinking water. DWPs play a critical role in managing risks and maintaining compliance with the latest health-based guidelines.

Forms and guidelines for drinking water providers

Drinking water service providers should use the following forms, guidelines and tools for developing a drinking water management plan, management plan reporting, and drinking water incident reporting.

Service provider registration

Visit our page on registration of water service providers to access forms and registration information.

Drinking water quality management plan (preparation and implementation)

Drinking water quality management plan forms

Drinking water quality reporting

Drinking water incident reporting

Notification of a drinking water event or detection of a parameter with no water quality criteria: Form WSR507 (PDF, 906KB) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 635KB)
Notice of non-compliance with water quality criteria: Drinking water: Form WSR017 (PDF, 439KB) (for service providers with an approved DWQMP) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 174KB)
Drinking water quality: Incident reporting: Form WSR503 (PDF, 650KB) (for service providers without an approved DWQMP) and the explanatory notes and instructions (PDF, 158KB)
Use of E. coli test kits for drinking water compliance monitoring (PDF, 75KB)