Risk Assessment for Safe Drinking Water Supplies - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 140

tap, (c) infrastructure organization, and (d) management of incidents and emer-
gencies (Byleveld et al. 2008 ). With the application of the CWP tool, the indige-
nous and remote communities were able to improve the management of both
drinking water and wastewater (Byleveld et al. 2008 ). In 2011, the National Water
Commission improved the tool and made it a web-based application (Australian
Government of National Health and Medical Research Council 2011a ). The tools
are available for download free of charge for people who work with small com-
munities on water supply management (Australian Government of National Health
and Medical Research Council 2011b ). Indigenous communities have adopted it
and have conducted comprehensive trials and testing (Centre for Appropriate
Technology 2012 ). Murray Radcliffe, the Acting General Manager of the National
Water Commission pointed out when the CWP was tried and implemented in 21

Indigenous communities, fewer people experienced water-borne diseases

“

(Aus-
tralian Government of National Health and Medical Research Council 2011a ).

”

3. The revisions of ADWG in 2004 and 2011

As the amount and purity of chemicals controlled by individual treatment of
drinking water supplies during the manufacturing process are different, contami-
nants may be contained in the speci

c treatment chemicals (Australian Government
of National Health and Medical Research Council 2004 ). In order to provide the
treatment of drinking water supplies with guidance on drinking water treatment
chemicals, in 2004, 34 fact sheets were designed to identify potential contaminants
for the individual treatment chemicals (Australian Government of National Health
and Medical Research Council 2004 ). Each fact sheet contained (a) the guideline
value and its derivation, (b) a general description of the characteristics of the
contaminants, (c) typical values in Australian drinking water, (d) methods for
removing contaminants from drinking water, (e) measurement and detection tech-
niques, and (f) health indicators (Australian Government of National Health and
Medical Research Council 2004 ). The Australian government required that this
information be reported in the Annual Drinking Water Quality Reports. In 2011, the
revised ADWG contained 120 new physical/chemical fact sheets and nine new
microbial indicator fact sheets (Australian Government of National Health and
Medical Research Council 2011a ). Another major improvement of the ADWG
2011 was the enhancement of operational monitoring, which assists the utilities in
measuring drinking water safety under all conditions (Australian Government of
National Health and Medical Research Council 2011c ). Furthermore, the infor-
mation sheets were developed to describe the common processes used to disinfect
water such as chlorine, chloramines, and ultraviolet (UV) (Australian Government
of National Health and Medical Research Council 2011c ). As the final step in a

water treatment plant, disinfection has to have the greatest impact on drinking water
safety. Thus, it is important to develop speci

c guidelines for the disinfection
process to reduce the potential for waterborne diseases (Australian Government of
National Health and Medical Research Council 2011c ).