Cooma water quality update
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Snowy Monaro Regional Council would like to advise that the Cooma water supply continues to comply with the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
The quality of the town’s water supply is expected to improve within the next week.
If the current water quality of the Murrumbidgee River remains as is, it is anticipated the taste and odour issues in the water supply will subside.
The change in the water quality was caused by localised storm activity and flash flooding along the Murrumbidgee River, upstream of the Cooma Water Treatment Plant (WTP).
This resulted in large volumes of dirt and silt being flushed into Cooma’s water supply weir pool on the river.
The river’s contamination extends 21km upstream of the Cooma WTP.
In his 27-years working for Council, Water and Wastewater Manager Mark Rixon said he has not seen the river so turbid.
“In 27-years, I have not seen the amount of dirt and silt presently in the river.”
“Staff have been working up to 20-hours a day at the treatment plant to monitor the water being produced.”
The taste and odour impurity are no longer present in the raw water entering the Cooma WTP.
It is anticipated the degraded water quality should clear within the next seven days, subject to no further storm activity in the catchment area.