Kev and Kim Conoplia have spent a lot of the last 15 years travelling in remote Outback areas.
The quality of the water in the remote areas where grey nomads love to travel is once again under the microscope.
Hot on the heels of the revelation that PFAS chemicals contained in firefighting foams had leaked into Katherine’s drinking water supply comes news that deadly pathogens have regularly been detected at dangerous levels in unfiltered drinking water pumped from rivers, lakes and dams in several New South Wales regions.
The ABC obtained NSW Health documents which also show that more than 100,000 residents of the state were issued protective boil-water alerts in the past five years. Grafton, Kempsey, Scone, Jindabyne and Merimbula are cited as the five worst-performing areas, with repeated ‘contamination incidents’ triggering ‘potential health risks’.
The threats have included cryptosporidium, a parasite causing gastrointestinal illness; cyanobacteria, a toxic bluegreen algae; and other pathogen groups including e. coli. Livestock faeces, sewage, and septic tanks are among the sources of the problems.
Many country councils supply unfiltered surface water, taken from watercourses, lakes or dams and treated with chlorine or UV disinfection, but these treatments are increasingly ineffective against resistant parasites. The documents say the use of filtration systems would lift rural water supplies up to a high standard, but introducing these across rural NSW could cost $2 billion.
In Katherine, the NT’s Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, sought to reassure grey nomads that the town’s water was still safe to drink despite the fact that the local water treatment plant uses a mix of Katherine River supplies and bore water to produce the town’s supplies. Those treatment bores have been found to have PFAS concentrations above new Australian safe drinking standards.
None of this is overly comforting to travellers who, by necessity, have to top up their water tanks in remote areas. After being on the road fulltime for 15 years, Kev and Kim Conoplia have learnt to be cautious.
Before he started travelling long-term, Kev once contracted the Cryptosporidium stomach infection from the water supply in Mossman and ended up in hospital with severe diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration. He also contracted Giardia while in Cairns.
Knowing they would be spending a lot of time in remote Outback areas where there might rely on water from bores or springs, the couple installed a Dual 10” filtration system in their caravan … and they are delighted they did.
“The system has worked 100% over our 15 years around the country so far,” said Kev. “Back in 2004 we were staying at a van park in Central Queensland when everyone else there developed stomach problems from the town water … but we never had an issue.”
Another long-termer, Verlie Norris, says she can certainly tell a difference between a lot of the mainland water and that which she has been used to in her Tasmanian home.
“The general rule is that hubby fills a glass and I taste it,” she said. “If it’s okay we’ll use it, otherwise it’ll be bought water for drinking and cooking.” Since March, the couple has bought a total of three 10-litre containers of drinking water. “I personally think it’s a matter of taste with water, and luckily we haven’t had anything bad to make us unwell,” she said. “At worst, it cleanses the soul.”
* Are you nervous about the water I some areas? What preventative action do you take? Comment below.
To purify water simply. Add colodial silver drops to the water and let stand over night. This will kill bacteria including crypto etc. Then filter through a carbon block filter which removes the silver, dead bacteria and chemicals.
Everybody.s got to toughen up were getting to soft our bodies are getting weaker relying on 2 many added chemicals to water and antibiotics our bodies are losing the ability to fight for ourselves through al the hygiene products people are using
You have to be joking , you can’t toughen up to enable you to drink water that is contaminated . We use a big blue filter for all the water going in the van and a silver activated charcoal for the drinking water
We never take the risk, always use bought water for drinking & cooking!
We treat ALL water going into van tanks. Shop bought water treatment designed for van tanks is used, purchased from parts department of most van sales yards. Never had a problem. Seen the end result of drink bad water at stanage bay. The local shop owner gave the nomads red cordial which to our surprise fixed most of them. We carry a sml bottle of Cotties with us now
We have used BEST filters for 11yrs, now and 10 yrs. full time on the road have
had no problems.