Water Journal January 2001

'

•

•

o LESSONS FROM · THE 1998 SYDNEY WATER CRISIS _J

A RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO WATER QUALITY _J

DEVELOPMENTS IN CATCHMENT HYDROLOGY

Grundfos is one of the world's leading manufacturers of pumps and pumping systems.

Through the acquisition of Sarlin Pumps, the Grundfos Group is now able to provide complete solutions for pumping of sewage, raw water and industrial effluent.

Grundfos Sarlin submersible pumps up to 600kW for flows up to 3500Usec.

r_ A D I IIU DI I . .Dr. ..,_1,1,,1 ... .- ..,.,, •.- ...

www.grundfos.com contact-au@grundfos.com

Volume 28 No 1 January 2001 Jo u rna l of the Austral ia n Water Associat ion

Editorial Board F R B ish o p , C h airman

B N Anderson, P Draayers, W J Dulfer, G Finlayson, GA Holder, M Kirk, Ll L1bza, M Munasov, N Orr, P Nadebaum, J D Parke r, M Pascoe, A J Priestley.

J Rissman. F R.oddick, E A Swinton

CONTENTS

•,1 kVntcr is a refe reed journal. This symbol indicates that a paper has been refereed.

Submissions Submissions should be made to E A (13ob) Swinton, Features Editor (see below for details).

2

FROM THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT: Regional Movement, Global Stage

Managing Editor

3

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Waterwatch: ASynergistic Opportunity

Pet e r Stirling PO Box 84, Hampton Vic 3188 T cl (03) 9530 8900 Fax (03) 9530 89 I I

4

MY POINT OF VIEW: La urie Gleeso n, Gou lburn Valley Reg ion Water

Features Editor

6

INTERVIEW: Alla n Henderson, Sydney Water

8

INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATES: IAWQ Merges with AWA to form AIWA

9

CROSSCURRENT: Water News around the Nation

E A (B ob) Swinto n 4 Pleasant View C rcs, Wheelers Hill Vic 3150 Tel/ Fax (03) 9560 4752 E111ail: bswinton@bigpond.nct.au

Crosscurrent Editor W (Bill) R ees PO Box 388, Artam,on, NSW 1570 T cl +61 2 941 3 1288 Fax: (02) 94 13 I 047

16

WATER RECYCLING AUSTRALIA 2000: Areport of the Adelaide conference J Ande rson

Email: brees@awa.asn.au

AWA Head Office

FEATURES:

PO Box 388, Artarmon, NSW 1570 T el +61 2 941 3 1288 Fax: (02) 94 13 I047

CR( FOR CATCHMENT HYDROLOGY: The second part of a review of their various projects

E111ail: info@awa.asn.au

Water Advertising & Production H all mark Editions PO l3ox 84, H ampton, Vic 3 I 88 Level I . 99 Bay Street, 13righ ton, Vic 3 186 Tel (03) 9530 8900 i=ax (03) 9530 8911 Email: hall111ark@halled 1t.co rn.au A d vertising co o rdinatio n : Fio n a Seco nd G ra phi c d esig n : M itz i Ma nn

17

The View from the Chair: J

19

Evolulion of Water Management: J Ti sd e ll

20

Sediment Movement in Forests: J

23

Slreamflow Forecasting: F

Lang rord

C roke, P Hai rsine

H S Chiew, TA McMa ho n

Water (ISSN 0310 · 0367)

2S

Slream Rehabilitation:

is publish ed in January, March, April, June, J u ly, September, October and l)cccrnbcr.

28

Postgraduate Education in the CR( CH: J

Australian Water Association Inc

DRINKING WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT

A B N 74 054 253 066

Federal President Alle n G ale

Executive Director C hris D avis

AWA

~

AUSTRALIAN WATER ASSOCIATION

Australian Water Association (A WA) assumes no

29

tives of AW A. All material in IVnrcr is copyright and

A RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH:

LESSONS FROM THE 1998 SYDNEY WATER CRISIS: J L Clancy

37

THE SYDNEY CRISIS · AN ALTERNATIVE POINT OF VIEW: P Hawk ins Clancy and Hawkins argue the efficacy of monitoring of pathogens during the Sydney Crisis

38

·, GENOTYPES OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM: P Ha wk in s, P Swanson, u Mo rga n A report on further monitoring in Sydney using IFA and PCR

43

·, THE ROLE OF TOTAL COLIFORMS: G Rya n, R Bann ister,

J O'Toole, D Deere

A suggested matrix for management decisions

Subscriptions

47

MEMBERSHIP

Water is sent to all AW A members eight times a year.

It is also available via subscription.

48

MEETINGS

Australian Water HOME PAGE Association and access news, calendars, bookshop and over 100 pages of lnfonnatlon at

s E Hrudey

33

sho uld no t be reproduced wholly o r in part without the written permission of the General Editor.

Visit the

Fie n

A Canadian puts forward his pragmatic view

responsibility for opi nions o r statements o f fa cts expressed by contributors or advertisers. Editorials do not necessarily represent official AW A policy.

Advertisements :lre included as an infonnarion service to readers and are reviewed before publication to ensure relevance to the water environment nnd obj1.:c-

I Ru the 1fo rd, K Je rie, N Marsh

OUR COVER: The 111icrobiolo.izical 111011itori11g of dri11ki11g 111ater is by 110 means as precise as 111eas11re111eut of pl1ysico-chemical properties. illdicator organisms lia11e to be used as s1m·ogatesfor patlwgeuic bacteria, while csti111ates of protozoa ca11 only be performed by co11cmtrafio11 J,-0111 large vol11111es, tl1e11 idrnt{(ira tio11 1111der the microscope, 111ore a11 'art fo n11 ' tha11 a scie11ce.

Main photo by Bria11 La bz a. C oliform colonies co urtesy of A WT Victoria.

FROM

THE

PRESIDENT

REGIONAL MOVEMENT, GLOBAL STAGE A recent general m eetin g of members of the International W ater Assoc iation in Australia unanimously agreed that their loca l operatio ns w ould be n1.erged with AW A's.

I was pleased to see that successful conclusion co a long negotiatio n with IW A; it is a noteworthy step along the path of col laboration that l identifi ed at the start of my term of office. As my term is shorter than most, thanks to o ur recent decision co convert to a new Constitution and a company structure, hitting milesto nes poses more of a challenge than usual. Another factor here is that AW A's Federal Co uncil, at its November 2000 strategic planning session , identifi ed internatio nal activities as a key area of acti vity to add value to m embers and for water in the region, so the merger vote was the first tangible outcome for that strategy area.

Sin ce AW A is just one of many waterrelated o rgan isations and si nce globalisation is an irresistible force, a good working rela tionship with !WA is critical. We ha ve been active in o ur own, SE Asian region, hosting the AS PAC Conference in Sydney in 1998, for example. Many of our near neighbours, though, do not have have the long history of volunteer associations that we in h e rited from our ma inly European foreb ears. We are thus in a good positio n to share our expe ri ences and ideals ,vith colleagues in th e region, to foster the growth of associations like our own, as well as working w ith I WA. As we are numerically a sma ll co untry, our role is not perceived as domi nating anyo ne , so AW A is a low-threat partner.

The first major challenge for us, in the new relationship with IWA, is co run the World W ater Congress in M elbou rne in 2002. W e decided recently to co mbin e that event with Enviro 2002, a joint venture with our local environment industry partners, WMAA, CASANZ and EBA (previously E MIAA) .

Th e combination of IW A and Enviro w ill create one ve ry substantial event, having an overall environment flavour, but with a strong water thread runnin g through it.

Apart from staging the big event next year, we also have plans to combine AW A's somewhat broad interest groups (eg reuse, drinking water, catchment management) with t he numerou s, b u t ve ry focused (eg pho s p h orus r e mov a l , river b asin management), spec ial interest groups that !WA has. I feel that our National Special Interest Groups offer an excellent vehicle for m embers to pursue their specifi c disciplines with co lleagues nationally, as an extra layer over/ under th e traditional, srate/ territorybased branch nexus. Combining fo rces with IWA's specialist groups w ill give the whole concept of align ing detailed interests new fo rce.

One possi bility is for AW A co fac ilitate a 2

WATER JANUARY 2001

Allen Gale

regional alignment of countries in SE Asia and perhaps the South Pacific. IW A has precedents for this so rt of arrangement in Africa, the Americas and North Asia fo r such groupings, so a joint activity amon g us and our convenient neighbours ho lds some promise. Apart from the bene fits of technology transfer and networking, the possible trade spin-om could be sig nifica nt.

Within I WA, Australia is significant beyond what our small po pulation would suggest, and our membership is the fourth largest from any country. We also have leadership roles in several specialist gro ups, suc h as R ecycling, which is now chaired by John Anderson.

Having o ur past President, Mark Pascoe, elected as the first C hairman of AIW A, the local !WA co mmittee, is a reflection of the commitment from bo th parties to this new relationship in Australia.

T he bu ild- up to the !WA 2002 event w il l see strengthening tics between IW A and AWA. We already have common membership of aroun d 200 people, w ith potential to have another 200 or so take up the offer of a 10% discount on subscriptions fo r dual membership.

The new Al WA committee enjoys a status roughly analogous to that o f a Branch and w ill have a seat on our Board.

Apart fro m the main event in 2002, there are ochers in the pipelin e too : an Odours workshop in Marc h 2001, perhaps BNR4 immediately after the World W ater Congress, and an active role for Australians in a new, Integrated Urban Water Managem ent project being set up by IWA co- President, Piet Ode ndaal.

Altogether, I think an exciting time is emerging for us all in working with IW A and I am comfortable that, w hen I step down in April , the process w ill be well in train.

A llen Ga le

Aquaphemera The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) for early D ecember was +23.

This indicates a probability that rainfall in the coming weeks is likely t o b e above a verage . Mor e ominously, the last tim e the SOI was at this level was in late 1973 and tbe floods of early 1974 w e re probably the most extensive in Australia this centu ry.

T here is, of co u rse , no certain ty o f widespread flooding in 2001 but t h e SO I affo rds the trigger to comment on flooding in Australia, already in the news because of recent floo di ng i n N ew South Wales and lik ely t h e worst on rec ord in England. T he latter has lead to speculation that the widespread inundation was related to green house-induced climatic change .

This is impossible to vali date scientifically but there are indications t h at t h e co ntinued r ise i n at m osp h e ri c g r ee n ho u se gas emissio ns m ay lead to increased flooding. To date, the only established facts of greenhouse climate change are the global, and n ear exponential, rise in greenho use gas c o nte nt of the atmosphere and the rise in globa l temperatures. The impa cts on rainfall at the sub-contin ental or regional scale are stilJ far from agre e d . But t h e re is an emerging consensus that w e m ay b e moving to a a period of increased rainfall intensity. That is even if rainfall amounts decrease that the rain will com e in sharp bursts that are condu cive to floodi ng. T his reflects basic physics in that the warmer the atmosphere, th e more moisture it can hold and, given the righ t co nditions, the more intensive w ill b e the rainfall. T hus w e could su rmise t hat the probability of occurrence of rainfall in a given time p e riod for Da rwin may b e tra nsferre d to Brisbane and th e current figures for Brisbane to Sydney and so on ever south. E ngineers concerned w ith the design of urban drainage will appreciate the significance of t his.

There are im portant impli cations for floodplain management. T he current widely used ' l in 100 year' desig n flood could c hange quite markedly . The i mplications fo r dam design and safety are even more alarming. A happy New Y ear to all readers of Aquaphem era and watch th e sor and see if it leads to widespread flooding in early 2001 !

Ding le Smith.

CATCHMENT

T he first part of this featu re was pub lished in the November/Decem ber issue of ' vVatcr', with six articles and with the follow ing six articles held over to th is issue. T hi: C l"tC fo r Catchment H ydro logy is a cooperative vt: nture, involving seventeen research and in d ustry organisations in public good research. In 2000, after tht: in itial six years of operation, tht: C R.C fo r Catchment H ydrology applied for a second round of fundin g based o n a complete recasti ng of its aims. T he following articles arc derived from work done in the previous C R C but are co mple tely relevant to the new aims of assessing

HYDROLOGY

the impact of land and water m anagem ent decisio ns o n a w ho le-of-catchm en t scale.

CRC for Catchment Hy drology Cen tre Office Virgin ia Verrelli C R C fo r Catchment Hydrology Department of Civi l E ngineering PO BOX 60, Monash Un iversity 3800 Tel (03) 9905 2704 Fax (03) 9905 5033 emai l virgi n ia. verrclli@eng.monash.edu.au cATCHM1N r

HY 0 10,0Gv

The View From The Chair J Langford Predictive Tool-boxes for Catchment Management

We have learnt th e hard way chat Australia's catchments are different from chose in Europe and Am erica.

To date, th e ability to m easure wholeof-catchment hydrologica l health, and provide tools for reso urce managers to assess the future impact of land and water use decisions, has remained a crucial challenge fo r Australian hydrologists .

T he Cooperati ve R esearch Ce ntre fo r Catchment H ydrology (C R.C C H ) has taken up th is challenge . Its who le-ofcatchment approach has evo lved from vvork conducted in the first C R C CH,

which showed that large-scale hydrologi c models cou ld be developed to provide region-appropriate water manage ment solutions. T he successful bid for a new Ce ntre fo cused o n producing large-sca le predictive models for catchments based on a more holisti c approach, w hich is a fund amenta l shift in emphasis fr om researchi ng hydro logical processes to predicting catchm ent behaviour. Th ere has also bee1, a m ove from achieving resea rch 'o utcomes' to 'catchment and community impacts' .

T he premise fo r the new Centre is that, given the co mpl ex ity of ca tchment uses and issues, any model that accurately

predicts hydrological behaviour in catchments must include th e impacts o f climate va ri ability, vegetation, soil and water manage m ent in an integrated package.

The Importance of Focus Catchments

An inn ovative way o f ac hi ev ing integration of the research programs and prediction of land-use changes on a large scale is the use of fo cus catchm ents. T he foc us catchments bring together research and commu ni ty inpu t s, re so u r ce managem ent issues and industry needs over a large complex catchment.

Th e C R C CH parties have selected WATER JANUARY 2001

17

CATCHMENT

fi ve such foc us ca tchments. T hey are Brisban e Ri ver, Q ld; Fitzroy Ri ve r, Qld ; G ou l b u rn - Brok e n Ri ve r , Vi c; M urru mbidgee R iver, NSW , and Yarra R iver, Vic. Eac h catchm ent involves generi c wa ter manage m ent issues that apply to seve ral ca tchments in Australia.

A coordinato r has bee n chose n fo r eac h of the foc us ca tchm ents to bring together the research programs and the ac ti vities of the industry partners and th e commun ity. Each coo rdinator ga thers info rmation on issues related to the CR C C H 's wo rk, and ac ts as a fa cilitato r, com mu nica ting w ith stakehold rs and resea rchers.

The Brisbane River Catchment

A good working exa mp le of the co mplexity of issues and th e foc us catchment approac h is the sub- tro pical Brisbane Ri ver Catchment.

This catchment is large , 13,500 km 2 in area, and its 50 maj o r creeks are contained by 850 kms of rive r and lake

HYDROLOGY

banks. On ly 14% of the ca tchment remains uncl ea red; 5% of the Bay's ca tc h m e nt area is u rb an i ed . Th e catchment supports the largest population in Q ueensland , and the pop ulatio n gro w th is rapid at abo ut 2 .8% a yea r.

Key wa terway issues are local and regio nal flooding, and sediment loads and turbidity flo wing thro ugh th e Brisbane Ri ve r into M oreton Bay from urban storm wa ter and ru ral land uses . T here are also related sporadic algal blooms in the wes tern part of the bay, litter and weeds, concerns abo ut the ecological h ealth of freshw ater wa terways and a need to ensure a lo ng-term sa fe wa ter supply.

C R C C H Parties , including the Brisbane C ity Council, are having significant input into developing th e South East Qu eensland R egio nal Wa ter Quality M anagem ent Stra tegy (SEQR WQMS), designed to protect all wa ters in the catc hm ent and M o reto n B ay . Th e strategy calls fo r cost-effecti ve solu tions to the co n1.pl ex and expensive issue of

Super solutions f0r the water industry

<:f WSAA, is also Chaimia11 <:f the C R. C C H.

m anaging urban sto rmwa ter pollutio n.

T he proj ect involves researchers from several of the C R C C H's Programs Predictin g Catchment Behavio ur, U rban Sto rmwa ter Q uality, Land- use Impact on R ive rs and Ri ve r R estoratio n .

C R C C H research aims to provide Qu eensland m anageme nt authorities with the abili ty to predict and evaluate land m an ageme nt initi ati ves across th e Bri sbane Ri ve r Ca tch m e nt. T h ese pr e dic ti ve too ls w ill supp o rt t h e SE QRWQMS. Education and Training

•

top level hassle free service

•

excellent invest ment perfor mance

T he n ew Ce ntre has lin ked the edu ca tio n and training programs of the Coastal Zone C R C Coastal Zone with the CR C Catchm ent H ydrology with the appointment of a j oint Program Leade r (P rofesso r J o hn Fi e n of G ri ffi t h U nive rsity, Qu ee nsland). The program will produ ce a new ca dre of indu stryrea dy yo ung professio nals, well-versed in the science and the practi cal issues facing Australia in land and wa ter manage ment.

•

competitive fees (no comm issions)

The New CRC CH

•

defined benefit & accumulat ion divisions

•

a fu ll range of products and services

So w hat sets this CR C C H apart fro m th e first? It is the commitment o f a large number of playe rs together with th e intense planning of research and adoption programs. It is also the shift in emphasis from hydrological processes to predi cting ca tchment behavio ur on a large scale.

T he foc us ca tchments a!e th e testing gro und bringing to ge ther the research and mana gem ent. It is the fi rst initiative of its kin d o n such a scale in Australia and we are all bu oyed by its preliminary progress .

Join many of Austra lia 's leading util ities already enjoyi ng

Ca ll Brian Towers on

(03) 9248 5911

equipsuper The national utilities superannuation fund 18

]0/111 La11<~(<nd, th e Exerntive Director

WATER JA NUARY 2 0 01

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

The Evolution of Water Management in Australia J Tisdell Water trading began in the early 1990's, followi n g COAG's nati ona l co111pe tition and social po licies, with the expectation that trade would redistribute wate r to more efficient uses, an d th e m arket is still evolving w ith exp erience .

H owever, the question re m ains w hether water trading is leading to an efficien t and equi table distributio n of wa ter. As well as env ironmenta l outcomes, th ere are economic impacts on regional towns and commu nities. The C R C C H 's Sustainable Water Allocation Program research aims co provide wa te r auth o rities and govern m e nts w ith insig hts co assist th e m w ith long- term strategic plann in g, and develop111cnt of tradin g rules and procedures which take into account not just h yd rological and system constraints, but also the soc ial and regio nal economi c conseq ue nces of the ir decisions.

So far, outcomes of water trading have been simulated using o pti111 isation 111ode ls, but the CRC C H research methodology w ill use actu al m arket data and traders to describe and simul ate o utcom es of trade.

To date th ere has been little research work pe rformed on such po licy evaluation in Australia.

According to M ulliga n and Pig ra m ("1989) and Watson (1990) for m ost of th e first t\N0 hundred yea rs of European settle m ent, water resou rce poli c ies , like tho se re lating to other reso urces, we re focu ssed o n ex plo itation co prom ote econom ic and demographic grow t h, and e m ployment ge nerati o n. The role of th e water authority was to engin eer dams and supply systems to capture and promote th e use of available water . Th ey w ere not directly in volved in the strategic plann ing or impl em entation of nationa l o r state eco no mi c or soc ial policies.

Th e re leva nt legislati ve arrange m en ts in Austra li a n sta tes, i n cl ud in g t he definition of owne rship of water and ri g hts to wate r use, eventuall y foll owed the model established by Alfred D ea kin 's Victorian Irrigatio n Act of 1886. T his and oth e r legislation established the prin c iple that all stream s were public property, and veste d in th e State "t/1e njz/1t to the 11se r111d )low, an d to the control of 111ater i11 any 111arerco11rse. " Fro m this follow ed th e syste m of admin istrative allocatio n of rig hts co water, and the hu ge infrastructure w hic h was developed and managed by publi c water authorities in each State.

In the 1980's water m anageme nt in Austra li a entered into a 11111t11re p/111sc

(Randall , 1980). No longe r do wate r authorities look solely co the construction of bigger dams to solve water issues (Paterson , 1986) . Rath er, they exa mine opti o ns of im proving the allocation of existi ng w ater entitleme nts in conjunction with environmental and so cial po licy obj ectives. Their obj ective is seen as promoting efficie ncy and e quity of water a ll ocat i on w hil e protecting t h e enviro nme nt.

Confli ct w as growing, bo t h between potential uses, and between the o ld develop m e nta l objectives and the n ewer eco nomic and e nviro nmen tal objecti ves, bu t being p layed o ut w ithin insti tutio nal settin gs geared co resource expa nsio n rath er than optimal allocation of a sca rce resou rce . Fina ll y, awareness was growing of the seve rity of e nvironm e ntal degradation , its irreversibility in som e cases, and the co nseque nces including declining qual ity of the reso urce.

Watson ( 1990) identified two "broad, 11/t/101tQh i11ti111111cly relnted scis of iss11es" assoc iated w ith these c han ges, nam ely : Firs/, ,hose co//reruiu,~ 1/1(' iurreasiug rclari11e sr111ri1 y (qu11 u1i1v) ,!f water resourres a/id the eff,cieury aud cq 11it)' of their 111/orario// m,d, scroudly, rl,ose c,>11rcr11i//g the iurrensi11.~ c1wirou111eut11/ probh'llls (q1111/ity) a/id 1/1c rnstaiua/1i/i1v <f 11111/er use. These 11110 seis cf issues are req11iri11g a .(,111da111c11i11/ sh!fi 11111/l)' .fi-ou, de11elop111cu1 ,!f siuglc reso111Tes (s11r/1 as 111a1cr re.w11rces) /011,ards 1ua11/lge111eu1 ,!f all rcso11m•s as au ernlo.~iral, 1•rouou1ic 1111d sorial sys1n11. (Watso n , 1990 : 13) In esse nce, the water authorities arc now in vo lved in manag i ng t h ese

con fli cting demands on the use and d istributio n of water withi n a period of institutional refo rm - be they eco nomic, environ m ental or soc ial. (Figure I).

Meeti ng th e broade ning and chang ing role of water management in Australia will be the greatest challenge facing water authoriti es in the future, and the C R.C C H P rogram o f Sustainable Water Al locatio n is d es igne d to d evelop prin ciples, guidelines, and practical tools for managing wate r all oca tion and use in a sustain abl e and effi c ient manner.

References

J. Pigram ( 1989), IV111a Ad111iuis1m1iou iu ;\,wm/ia: Agr11d11.fi>1· Chauge,

Mulligan , 1-1 . and

Centre for Water Policy R esearc h. U N E: Arrnidale.

Pa terson, J. ( 198 (,), "Coo r dination in Government: \)ecomposition and 13o unckd R ationa lity as a Framework for 'User Friendly' Statllte Law", A1wmli1111)01u·u11/ cf P11blir 1\d111i11is1m1iou, XLV. 2. 95- 111.

R.andall , A. ( 1982). " Property Entitlements a nd Prici ng for a Mature Water Economy", A11srmlit111Jo1m11il ,?f"A.~riw/1t1ml Ur,,110111irs, 25(3) 195-220.

Watmn, W. ( 1990), "A n Overview of Water Sector Issues and Initiat ives in Australia'', pp. I l- -t2 in H ooper, 13 .. andj. Pigram ( 1990. eds.). "f"rm,s/i:mbiliry ~( J Vma E1//iilc111c11ts: A 11 /111cr11fllio11al Sc111i11,,,- mu/ J1Vorks/10p, Centre for Water Policy \l..esearch, UNE: Armidale.

The Author D r John Tisd ell is th e Leader o f th e Sustainable Water Allocation Program and is at Griffith U niversity, Brisbane. Ema il j.tisdell@ m ai lbox .gu .edu .au

ECONOMIC PRESSURES: Pressures to invoke full cost recovery and introduce water markets for water entitlements.

ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES:

SOCIAL PRESSURES: Community value and belief systems held by the local communities impact on the acceptance of land and ...,... ._ ..... ......_ water policies.

Need to address issues including eutrophication, salinatlon and waterlogging of waterways, and the degradation of groundwater systems.

In essence, the objectives of a land or water policy are unlikely to be realized If community value and belief systems are incongruent with policy reform.

Figure 1 : Institutional structures and reform WATER JANUARY 2001

19

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

Managing Sediment Movement and Sources in Forests J Croke and P Hairsine Introduction

When one thinks of long-standing environmental debates, the issue ofl ogging and water quality stands out as being both prominent and e motive. Media portrayal of th e debate is black and wh ite; the economic susta inability of the logging industry is pitted against the environmental protection of eco logical, soil and water values, enhancing the feel in g that both are mutuall y excl usive. Government policy and loca l legislation is foced with the challenge of striking a meaningful and j ustifiable compromise amon gst the stakeholders.

Traditi ona ll y h ydro lo gists h ave struggled to in form th is debate, primarily because paired-catch ment type stu dies Figure 1.. Rainfall simulation along ridgetop road in Cuttagee Creek covering an area produced data that did not offer a of 300·600m 2 with a contributing road length of 40m. co nsisten t message or im portantly, a positive way forward for the effective detai ls of the technica l o utcomes of t his determined . At eac h site, three design mana ge m ent of sedim en t so urces in proj ect are provided in Croke et al. (1999) storm even ts 'vVith 2, 10 and I 00 year forests. The issue reac hed a crisis in l 994 recurrence intervals of30 minute duration Outcome 1.: Replacing Emotion with w he n State Forests N SW (SFNSW) were applied ; th ese simulated the effects Science: The Importance of Quality voluntarily agreed to operate under a nonof a ran ge of storms, ranging fro m Data point source pollu tion control license frequently-occ urri ng low intensity even ts The project developed a detailed and ad m inistered and legisla ted under the to mo re infrequent extreme storms. well-developed expe rimental program C lean Waters Act (1970) by the NSW The program exa min ed the effecw hic h expe rimentally determined erosion Environment Protection Authority. The tiveness of c urrent e rosion contro l and sediment deli very rates for three key absence of scientific data to underpi n this measures such as road d rains , c ross ban ks, so urce areas (roads , tracks and general important license was clear from the outset vegetative filt eri ng on slopes and in loggin g areas) using a large (300-600 sq. and man y of the license's early recom111) rainfall simulator, and then up-scal ing ripa rian areas, and road and track closure mendations were based primarily o n fo ll owing loggin g . T he fi ndin gs were these plot measurements to the catchmentintuition and local perceptions. instrum ental in clarifyi ng many of the scal e using modeling and Geograp h ic The C RC C H 's 'Sedi111c11t Mo11e111e11 1 i11 w idely held m isconceptions regarding Information System s (G IS) approaches Forcsr Opemtiow ' proj ect aimed to produce (Figure 1) forestry and erosion. So m e of th ese science tha t would systematica lly target include : A total of 24 sites were in vestigated, gaps in our und e rstanding of sediment • Desp ite th e o ften chaotic appearance of represen ting major soil types, road types, m ovem e nt in fo rests wh ilst offe rin g a logged catchment, sed ime nt is not and times sin ce logging in both NSW and practical solutions usefu l for the hardwood Vi ctoria. Thi s la rge number and range of generated everywhere - th e majority loggi ng industry in Au stralia. T he project com es from unsealed roads (often the sites was selected so th at domin ant incl uded sc ien tists from CS IRO and con trols on erosio n rates and hence responsibility of shire councils and local representatives from the leading environpotenti al risks to water qu ality could be landh olde rs) and little from the actual menta l and land management age ncies logged hillsl opes. Unsealed fo rest roads, for such as DLW C and NSW example, were found to have EPA, as well as collaboration sedim ent fluxes that were on 100 from industry i n the form of - - Road average, o ne order of magnitude SFNSW. 10 - - - Snig track hi gher than forest sn ig tracks; -9 Over th e li fe of the X • •• •••• Hillslope these in tu rn had flu xes one :::, project, there has been a 0:: order of magnitude higher than i: t ra nsformation in t h e 0.1 (1) .. . .. .. .. .. ......... ....

E the gen eral logging area (Figure m a n agement o f forestry 'ti O.Q1 (1) 2).

T he data enabled us to activ it ies in NSW and Cl) identify a 'hierarchy' of sediment 0.001 Vic t o ria , one t h at h as sources all owing regu latory 0 500 benefited from the scientific 1500 1000 2000 2500 Event time (s) conditio ns and the industry to input from th e CRC C H target key problem areas. project. This article ou tl ines some of the key outcomes Figure 2. Relative differences in sediment flux as measured • Logge d hi llslop es exh ibit from the project wi th respect from three key source areas, unsealed roads, snig tracks and high er hydraulic con du ctivities to scie ntific direction and general harvesting areas, on sites of similar soil type and under and surfa ce roughness than techn o logy transfer. M ore equivalent rainfall intensities . Note log scale on the y axis. compacted areas, such as roads

I

20

WATER JANUARY 2001

CATCHMENT

-

E

side buffer zones were fo und to be particularly successful in reducing total sedi ment loads.

Snig track

1.20

cl,

HYDROLOGY

"' -

Metasedlment

Outcome 2 : Developing Practical Management Tools

---+-- Red granite

0.80

~ (I) (I)

·5 en

• • • • <> • • • •

~

.E

Light granite

·a...

0.40

4......

A._

0 0

0.5

2

3

4

5

6

4

5

6

Age {years)

0.04

GHA

i

0.03

~

E

cl, ~ (I)

"' .E

\\

0.02

\\

·5

en

0.01

. .... a ...

-

0 0

0.5

2

3 Age {years)

Figure 3. Changes in surface soil losses for snig track (compared to general harvest areas) with time-since-disturbance. The marked reduction in erosion rates with recovery time indicates that erosion-control devices must be in place during the early period of track recovery.

and trac ks, and serve as an impo rta nt bu ffe r in preve nting sed iment deli very to streams. Pre ve ntin g cxcessivc d isturban ce of these: arcas is critica l to e nsure th ey fun c ti o n as a buffer and not as a source .

• Th e most erodible soils are not the most signifi cant threa t to wa ter quality. Soils w ith low erosio n po te ntial , but high scdi111e11t dc li ve ry potc nti al, must be affo rded highe r w e ighting in terms o f a11 eros io n haza rd assessme nt sc hem e. W e deve loped a matrix o f soil types based 0 11 regolith , whic h allows fo r a more acc ura te: assessme nt of a soil's pote ntial to be delivered to th e stream ne twork.

• Initial post- loggin g e ros ion rates fall rapidl y afte r loggin g and, w ithin 5 years, approac h pre-logging levels. This al erted th e industry to the impo rtance o f having e rosio n control practi ces in place during and immediately aft er loggin g to e nsure that this 'window' of o pportu ni ty for pollution is prevented (Figure 3) .

• Th e m ost damaging aspect was directly linking road s with str eam s . Gull y form ation at road dra inage outle ts, for e xampl e, w as recognised as a signifi cant form o f road-to-stream co nn ec ti vity (Fig ure 4) . These channelised pathwa ys increase the number of first o rder strea111s w ith in a catchm ent, increasing the natural

dra ina ge d e n s ity a nd imp o rta ntl y , providing a persistcnt and e fficient conduit for th e deli very o f road- related runo ff and sedime nt to streams. Th ere w as clear scope fo r th e proj ect to develo p some practica l tool s to assist in preventi ng thi s from occurrin g (sec Outco me 2 below).

Traditi o nally road surfaces have bee n m an age d w ith t he prim ary ai m o f protecti ng the road surfa ce (or travel way) to lim it the cost of road maintenance and to e nsure sm oo th roa d surfaces fo r vehicles. Th e recogn ition of the ir significa nce as delivery pa thways fo r sedim ent and assoc iated po llutants necess itated d iffere nt managem ent techn iques.

A study of the impact of unsealed roads o n gully developme nt and cha nn e l extent in southeaste rn N SW highlighted th e impo rtance of drain spacing in controlling the develop ment of cha nnelised pathways at t he road discharge poi nt. Th ere was a sig nifican t co rre latio n , for e xa mple, between gully developme nt and relief cu lve rts used to drain cut- and- fill roads wh ich had, o n average, contributin g road le ngt hs three tim es lo nge r than ridge top roads, and dra ined onto slopes that were twice as steep. We used these data to develop a pred ictive m odel to determine the appropriate inter-drain length required to e nsu re gully erosion wou ld not occur.

A G IS based road-to-strea m conn ectivi ty mode l w h ich addresses the key design criteria i11 managing road ru noff fo r water q ual ity protec ti o n is currentl y bei ng deve lo ped by the C R C C H fo r distri buti on to the forest indu stry and re levan t agencies . Th e mode l wi ll also incorpo rate a compone nt that add resses the delive ry of road-de ri ved runoff to streams as a fu nction of rain fall in temi ty, the infil tra tio n capacity of the road su rface and the hydrauli c properti es of the di sc harge h il lslo pe (H a irsine ct al. , submi tted) .

• Best M anage me m Practi ces curre ntly used in fo restry areas, w he n constru cted prope rly, arc effec tive . W e de mo nstrated t his ex p e rim e ntall y and de ve lo pe d impr ove d g uid e lin es fo r practice and fie ld impleme n100 tati on . Fi gure 5, for example , 90 represe nts a caesium budget Full channel linkage 80 for a compartment on granitic so il s o n th e Sou t h e rn 70 Partial channel linkage T able lands of N SW. Th e 60 fact that the to tal amount o f 50 ca es ium wa s re c ov e r e d , 40 w ithin th e e rro r range o f th e tec hniqu e, indi ca tes that 30 mu c h o f th e mate rial eroded 20 fi-0111 the high so il loss areas 10 such as th e sni g trac ks and 0 landings is re ta in ed on -site Culverts Mitres Push outs (Wallbrink et al. , 1997) .

Manageme nt practices, such as Figure 4. Variations in percentage of road outlets th e redistribution o f run off fully and partially li nked to receiving waters via a through vege tated areas and channel according to major drain types · mitres, sedime nt trappin g in stream push-outs and culverts.

• •

WATER JANUARY 2001

21

CATCHMENT

Caesium· 137

INPUT 100%

(3·1)

Log landing

·2,

(74·79)

+s, (18·7)

Snig tracks

·11,

General harvest area

+21 (0·2)

Cross banks (6·8)

+3, Butter Caesium· 137 budget

strip

NSW DLWC in co llab o ration with SFNSW established a TAFE co ur se for mac hinery operators and foresny personnel; this outlin ed the basic princ i ples of so il e rosio n and wate r qu alit y p rotection inc ludin g the C R C C H resea rc h o utcom es. The cours e won an Env iron mental Achi eve ment Award in 1998 fo r Forest Soil and Water Protection Training from the Inte rnational Erosion Con trol Assoc iation . T he recen tl y publish ed CR.C Indu st1y R eport (Croke et nl. , 1999) is now used as th e standard textboo k for this course. During the data co llec tion phase, information-exchange and demonstration days were organised at each of the sites (southeastern NSW, northern NSW , East Gippsland and north eastern Vi ctoria)

Figure 5. Tracer budget showing redistribution of caesium137 after harvesting plus 6 years of erosion and deposition.

Initial caesium input to t he catchment was normalised to 100%. The first value in brackets represents the preharvesting amount of caesium in each element as a fraction of initial input. The second value represents the fractional amount post-harvesting plus erosion. Values inside the arrows represent the amount either eroded from, or deposited onto, each element. The smaller figures represent the uncertainty, or degree of confidence in the number. The value in the bottom box represents the sum of all tracer amounts retained in the cat chment after harvesting.

T echno logy transfer aim s were m et through a range of forums orga nised spec ifi ca lly to raise levels of awa reness about forest erosion and management, and al so by age ncy drive n processes for revi ew and developm ent of th e control instrume nts. At th e same time , a range of products supporting the project outcomes, inclu ding videos and reports have also bee n produced and distribu ted widely.

Some bri ef exa mpl es of our communi cation ac ti vities follow.

Reviewing and Revising Legislation In November 1996 the NSW EPA co mme nced a review o f the po llutio n contro l li cense (PCL) for forestry operations that provided the research team with an opportunity to incorporate its findings directl y into legislati ve gui delines. W e esti mate that half of the 150 c hanges to the P C L guidelin es were impl emented as a direct result of the researc h; more impo rtan tl y, the proj ec t was instru mental in developing a revised hazard mode l for the assessm e nt of pollution impa c ts due to fo rest acti viti es and roading. This represented a subst;intial paradigm shift in te rms of traditional

22

WATER JANUARY 2001

m e thods and philosophy of erosion hazard assessme nt.

The EPA, togeth e r with DLW C and SFNSW, comme nced a review of all of th e operatin g co nditions in the license. The re vised li ce n se ha s no w b ee n impl em ented ac ross fo rest manageme nt areas in NSW and represents the standard for best practice in the forest industry.

Communication for Education

97 % ( t. 6)

Outcome 3: Getting the Message Across: from the Politician to the Dozer Driver

HYDROLOGY

to explain and de mon strate the research aims and procedures.

Conclusion While considerabl e debate abo ut the impacts of forestry on stream water quality re mains, the CR.C CH Progra m has provided a grea tl y improved techni cal resource to in form the debate and gu ide decision - makin g.

Acknowledgments Th e autho rs acknowledge th e collaboration o f many people from CS IR..O, Uni ve rsity o f M e lb o urn e, DNR.E V icto ria , S FNSW, Land and Water Conservation, NSW and students H eather Mathews, R o dney D ec ker and R..oss All en.

References C roke ). , Wallbrink P. , Fogarty P., l-lairsine P.13. , Mockler S., M cCormack R . and Brophy J. 1999. M anaging sedim ent sources and 111ove111ent in forests: The forest industiy and wa ter quality . C R C fo r Ca t chmen t Hydro logy Industry ll..e port. 99/ 11. l-l airsine P. 13. , Croke J.C, Mathe ws H ., Fogarty P. , and Mockler S. P. (submitted) M o delling plumes of overland flo w fro m roads and logg ing tracks. Forest Ecology and Managen1 ent.

W allbrink P.J. , Roddy B.P., and Oll ey J.M. ( 1997) Quantifying the redistribution o f soils and sedi ments within a post- harvested coupe near IJombala, N SW , Australia. CSJR.O Land and Water, T echnica l R.eport, 7 /97.

The Authors Jacky C. Croke is Lecturer, School of Geography and Oc ean ograp h y, University Co llege, ADFA, Canberra , ACT 2600. e-mail: J. Croke@adfa. edu.au.

Peter B. Hairsine is a Senior R esea rc h Scientist, at CS IR.O Land and Water, GPO Bo x 1666, ACT 260 1. e mail: Peter. Hairsine@cbr.clw.csiro.au

Figure 6. Forestry personnel, community groups and environmental groups attending a CRC rainfall simulator demonstration, Bermagui NSW.

HYDROLOGY

CATCHMENT

Seasonal Streamflow Forecast and Water Resources Management F H S Chiew and T A McMahon mined based o n the water allocation 1200 ann ou nced by the water authority in ::J In Austra lia rainfall and runoff can 8., 1000 Septem ber (start of crop planting). T he va ry considerably fro m year to year ~ 0 seco nd and third simulatio ns assum e 800 res ultin g in hi gh e r int e r-a nnual ~ ] so m e r is ks (based o n seaso nal variabi lity of river £lows com pared to if>,n ~ 600 q,._\ streamf:low forecasts), with a g reater e lsew h e r e i n t h e wor l d. T h e ".,, 400 area planted in antic ipation of an m anagement of land and water inc rease in the wate r allocation. reso urces in vo l ves d es ign a nd 200 Cl) Figure 2 (a) sho ws that in half of th e operation to cope with th is variability. the max imum area is p lanted , years, There is a clear link be twee n Probability that inflow amoun l w ill be exceeded as there is sufficie nt water in the 0 20 40 60 SO Australia's hydroclimate and El Ni,'io_ _ __,s"'-o_ _ --'6""----"' 0 40.___ _., 20.___ _ o reservo ir to an nounce th e m axim um So uth e rn Osc ill atio n (ENSO) . A Risk Utat inflow amount will not be exceeded allocation . 111 th e re main ing years, as typical example is given in Figure 1, Figure 1. Di stribution of spring inflows into expec ted, the cro p area planted w h ich shows that th e spring in£Iows Wyangala Dam (in central-west New South in creases w ith in creasing risks. Figure into Wya ngal a Dam (in central- west Wales) for three categories of winter SOI 2(6) also shows that, w ith greater risks N e w South Wal es) arc ge nerall y values. there is a highe r c hance of th e crops hi gh er w hen the w inter Southe rn fai lin g, with insufficient w ate r to O sc illa tion Ind ex is high (the SO I Use of seasonal streamflow forecasts sustain all the planted crops in abo ut 40% in water resources management desctibcs the Tahiti minus Darwin sea level of the years in the "som e risk" simu lati o n. press ure) . T h e relation sh ip b et we en The exampl e prese nted h ere in vestiN everth e less, despite the risks invo lved, strca mflow and ENSO, and the serial gates the use of seaso nal stream flow th e resul ts in Figure 2 suggest that th ere corre lation in strcamflo w can be used to forecasts to he lp determi ne irrigation may be a ne t be ne fit in using seaso nal fore cast stream flow several months ahea d. w ater all ocation in the Lac hla n Ri ver strea mflow fo recasts in wate r reso urces These fo recasts wou ld be in va luable to the catc hme nt (sec C hi c w et al., 1999; and manage m e nt. managem e nt of land and water resources, Panta el al. , 1999, for more details) . This Despite the pote ntial bene fits in using and wou ld allow dec isio ns on irri gati on catc hment is in ce ntral-west New So u th seaso nal strea mfl ow forecasts, wate r w ater allocation , water rcsttiction rules and Wales and covers an area of about authoriti es take a ve ry con serva ti ve view e nvironm enta l flows to be more rea listi85,000 km 2 . T he plots in Figure 2 show in m anaging water reso urces sys te ms, call y based (sec C hi cw et al. , 1999) . resu lts from three simulations using th e m ain ly du e to pol itical co nce rns relating IQQ M mod el developed by th e NSW Th e re lationship bet ween ENSO and to wate r shortfall s (see Long and D e pa rt m e nt o f La nd and Wat e r cli mate is the scientific basis of lo ng-range M c M ahon , 1996). Althoug h it is lik e ly Co nservation. The mode l sim ulates th e weather fo recasts provided by research that co nse rvative man age m e nt w ill water distribution syste m 0 11 a daily tim e institution s and 111 eteoro logica l agenc ies co n ti nue in Australia , it is possible that step (usin g data fro m 1894 to 1997) and t hrougho u t th e wo rld. For examp le, the water agencies w ill start using seasonal Au strali an Burea u o f M e teo ro logy takes into account cli mate and crop water of reservoir infl ows as inputs into forecasts req uire m e nts as well as e n vironm ental presen ts seasonal climate o utlooks fo r thei r mode ls, to provide ri sk- based flow extractio ns. rain fa ll and temperature as probabilities, (probability) estimates of th e like liho od e .g. that th e total rain fa ll and average The fi rst simul ation assumes virtuall y o f inc reases in the announ ced water temperatu re ove r t he nex t three months no risk , wi th the cropping area deterallo cati o n. This wi ll allow irrigation woul d exceed th e m edi an water use rs to m ake m o re val u es (see www . bo m. i nfo r med d e ci s io ns to gov .a u / clim ate/a hea d). area planted area failed manage the ir land.

T he Australian R ainman (ha/yr) (ha/yr) computer pac ka ge a lso 0 Vil1Ually no risk 28700 Exceedance probability 1760 provides historical ra infall "Little" risk 32800 forecasts "Some" risk 3S200 3380 data and seaso nal rai nfall A s water re so ur ces fore casts based on ENSO "' 50000 c" 50000 (b) (a ) C -0 -0 sys t e m s are t ypica ll y (see www.dpi.qld. gov.au/ 2 40000 40000 ~ f; mana ged w ith very low cl rain man ). Many stu dies 0.

30000 "!:! 30000 risks, forecasts at t he hi gh "!:! have shown that th e use of "'"- 20000 "' 20000 e nd of p ro babiliti es of "seasona l rainfall for ecasts e § '~ ... exceedances arc re qu ired ... 10000 can sign ifi can tly be ne fi t " 10000 ~~ E (right hand end of Fig ure 1).

E agricu ltural and reso urce 0 ·, = 0 i;1 i;1 It is diffi cult to accura tely 0 20 40 60 SO 100 0 management (see pape rs in 20 40 60 80 100 % years area failed is exceeded % years area planted js exceeded forecast flows associate d A u s tra l ia n Burea u of w ith ve1y high and very low R esource Scien ces, 1994, probabilities o f exceeda nces 1997 ; and H amm er et al., Figure 2. Results of IQQM simul ations of alternative m anagement bec a use th e co rre la tion options in the Lachlan River cat chment.

2000) .

Managing Climate Variability

\y"~

. ,~

i

~

~

\\c

0

s

~

<)

WATER JANUARY 2001

23

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

Queensland. However, in N ew South Wales, the 50000 sp ring runoff can be forecasted using both the 40000 ____,.-10% !ti0 serial correlation in runoff y . ~ 30000 and ENSO . T he serial , / - 30% :; .,;.----/ correlatio ns in runoff data ~ ~ ~ -!; ~ .

• / • ~ rnctliun ..., 20000 for s h ort lags from .

• --------1 .

Victoria and sou th-west -------- • • • ~--70% 10000 -~ , : . _ - -- •~ - -:,,v·1u Western Australia are high 0 almost throughout th e -20 - 10 0 10 20 Apr-Jun SOI year and can be used to forecast runoff two or Figure 3. An example of an empirical fit derived using t hree month s ahead. th e non-parametric method.

Th ere is also a signifi cant between streamflow and ENSO is not runoff-ENSO relationship in wi nte r in very h igh . As such , models that give V ictor ia and sout h -west Western co ntinu o u s exceedance probability Australia, and it can be used to improve fo recasts have to make assumptions in the runoff forec asts based on runoff serial hand ling t he errors in the derived correlations, particula rly fo r lo nger lead relationships . times.

To this end, we have developed a nonIn su111111a1y, there is a clear relationship parame t ric method for forecasti n g be tween ENSO and streamflow for exceedance probability of strea mflow (see many parts of Australia. As the example abo ve has shown, there are potential Piechota rt al. , 2000). The method uses benefits in using this relatio nsh ip in the linear disc riminant analysis to empiricall y management of land and water resources. fit the data without m aking any prior assumptio n of th e model stru cture (see References Figu re 3). As part of the C R C for Australian Bureau of R esource Sciences ( 1994) Catc hm ent Hydrology's C limate Agricu ltu r;il Systems and In fo rmation Technology: Climate and R isk, Australian Variability Program , the meth od is now l:l R S, Canberra . being tested on m ore long time-series Austrafo n 13urcau of R.esource Sciences ( 1997) stream flow data sets across Australia.

60000

i

.. . .

....

When and where are streamflow forecasts useful?

The streamflow-EN SO relationship is generally stronger than the rainfallENSO relationship. Unlike rainfall, there is also a h ig h serial co rrelation in streamflow because of t h e d e la yed response in the rainfall- ru noff process.

However, the serial correlation drops ve1y quickly and is rarely statistically significant fo r lags of more than three months.

Apart from Tasmania, the streamflowENSO relations hi p and/or seri al correlation in streamflow can be used to forecast streamflow successfully fo r at least certain times of the year. T he lag correlations between streamflow and ENSO and the serial co rre lati ons in streamflow are statisti cally sign ificant fo r most of the year for most parts of Australia. Figure 4 summarises w hen and w here the correlati o ns arc suffi cien tly high to forecas t seasona l streamflow meaningfu ll y (see C hiew er al., 1998, 2000 for more details).

The runoff-ENSO relatio nship is stron gest in north-east and eastern Australia. In Queensland and New South Wales, ENSO can be used to forecast summ er runoff up to six months ahead.

Unlike elsewhere in Austra li a, there is little serial correlation in runoff data from

24

WATER JANUARY 2001

-,

C lim ate Prediction for Agricultura l and R.esource Management (Editors: ll...I<.

Munro and L.M. Leslie).

Australian 13RS. Canberra.

Ch iew, F.H.S., McMahon, T.A., Zhou, S.L. and Piechota, T .C. (2000) Streamflow variability, seasonal forecasting and water resources systems.

In: Applications of Seasonal Climate F orecasting in Agricultunl and N atural Ecosystems - Th e Australian Ex peri e n ce (Editors: G .

1-IJmmer, N. Nicholls and C. Mitchell), Kluwer Academic, In Press.

Chiew, F.H.S., Piechota, T.C., D racup. J. A. and McMahon, T.A . ( 1998) El Nino / Southern Oscillation and Australian r;iin fall, stn:amflow and drought: li nks and potential for forecas t ing.

Jo11mt1! ,!f 1-lydrohi~y. 204: I 38149.

Chiew, F.H.S., Z h ou. S.L., Panta, 1<.I<.., Erlanger, P.D. , McMahon, T.A. a nd Clarkson, N.M. (1999) Use of seasonal strea1nflo w forecasts for wate r supply managenient.

Proceedings of the Water 99 J oint Congress (2'i th H ydrology and Water Resources Symposium and

2nd Internationa l Confe re nce on Wate r Resources and Environment Research), Brisbane, Ju ly 1999, Institut ion of Engineers Australia, Volume I, pp. 512-517.

Hammer, G. Nicholls, N. and Mitchel l, C (Editors) (2000) Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems - The Australian Experie nce. Kluwer Academic , In Press.

Long, A.B. and McMahon, T. A. (1996) R eview of Research and Development Opportunities for Using Seasonal Climate Forecasts in the Australian Water Industry. Land and Water l<.esources Research and Development Corporation, Occasional Paper CV02/96, 46 pp.

Panta, K., McMahon, T.A ., Turral, H.N., Malano, H.M., Malcolm, W. and Lightfoot, C . (1999) Water Allocation Strategies for the Lachlan River Valley . Cen t re for Environmental Applied H ydrology, University of Melbourne, November 1999, 90 pp.

Piechota, T.C., Chiew, F.H .S., Dracup,J.A. and McMahon . T.A . (2000) D evelopment o fan exceedance probability streamflow for ecast using the El Nino-Southern Oscillatio n and sea surface temperatures. Jo111·11a/ ef H ydrolo,l!ic ~11gi11ccri11g, I11 Press.

The Authors Francis Chiew 1s a C R. C Researcher and Tom McMahon is Profess or in the D epartm ent of C ivil and Environ m en ta l Eng ineering, The University of Melbourne. Tel 03 8344 664 1. Em a il : T .M c M a h on@civag. un im e lb. e du.au

Lag correlation of runotT versus south-cast QLD SOI SST runotT

Win/Spr (Jul-Nov ) short lag long lag (2 to 6 (up to 2 months months little runoff

NSW coast SOI SST runoff

NSW inland SOI SST runoff

VIC SOI SST runotT TAS SOI SST runoff south-west WA SOI SST runoff

little runoff

Figure shows correlations between winter/spring runoff and summer runoff versus the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI} and sea surface temperature in the Pacific or Indian Oceans (SST} for short and long lags. The red shadings indicate that the correlation is highly statistically significant and the blue shadings indicate high correlation.

Figure 4 . Summary of lag correlations between streamflow and ENSO and serial correlations in streamflow across Australia.

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

Planning for Stream Rehabilitation: Some Help in Turning the Tide I Rutherfurd, K Jerie and N Marsh Introduction Imagine that you are one o f the smalJ a r m y o f profess io n als wh o advise catchme nt management groups around Australia. In common with m ost such groups, yo urs is inc reasingly e nthusiastic abo u t i mpro vin g the environmen tal co nditi on o f th eir streams. However, you are fi ndi ng that with your disc iplinefo cused training, and your experie nce in revegetation and erosion control, you are no t feeling competent to answer the sort of questions that yo ur group are no w aski ng yo u . For exampl e: can we do anything to return fish and platypus to the stream s? W hat th ings should we do fi rst?

W hat go vernm ent de partmen t should we be talking to about stream rehabili tati on?

T h is situatio n is repeatin g itself many times across Australia as we witness a huge c ha n ge in a ttitu d es to w ard s ou r waterways . N o lon ge r are we happy w ith th e trad itional goals of wate r supply, and flood and erosion control. Today, we also want a healthy stream e n vironme nt. At least $50 mi ll io n is bein g sp ent annually (parti c ularl y by th e N ation al H e ritage Trust and urban authori ties) in Australia on efforts to improve th e health of strea ms. This estimate leaves aside the cost o f wate r quality imp roveme nt for the e nvironm ent, and th e opportunity cost of wate r that is directed to en viro nm ental flo ws and so away from econ o mi c uses.

Typical stream restorati o n works include: e n vironm e ntal fl ow releases, riparian weed rem oval and revege tatio n , artific ial rep.la ce m en t of large wo o d y d ebris (LWD), and co nstru ction of fi sh ways.

Ensuri ng that this in vestment in stream hea lth is effective presents new cha!Jenges to th e Au strali an water industry.

Engineers have tradition a!Jy dominated stream managem ent, and th e goals o f their work have been technica!Jy cha!Jenging, but always clear - typica!Jy wa ter supply and flood mitigation. Strea m rehabilitation, on the other hand, is characterised by unclear goals (such as a vague desire for improvements in strea m conditio n), uncertain methods (su ch as habitat restoratio n), and som etimes frustrating interaction with m an y other disciplines (such as stream ecolo gists) . Furthermore, the traditio nal tasks o f stream manage ment ofte n confl ict with the new environm ental focus. In shott, it is much easie r, and we have much mo re experi ence, in stream management that

Figure 1. A typical community group on a degraded stream in west ern Victoria.

Where should they start in rehabilitating this stream? Should they put their efforts into this stream, or somewhere else?

degrades natural systems, than we do in restoring those natural system s.

Draft Manual for Stream Rehabilitation

G iven th e growin g enth usiasm from both rural and urban stream managers fo r stream restoratio n , the C R C C H has de veloped a research program in this multidisciplinary area. As a fi rst step , the C R C C H and th e Land and Water R esources R esea rch and D e velopm e nt C orpo ratio n (LWRRDC), have w ritte n a draft docum ent d esigned to assist professional stream managers to re habilitate streams (R u th e rfurd et al., 2000a) .

T he full manual can be down- loaded from the web (ww w .ri vers.gov. au), o r can be purc hased from the store fro nt of the D epartme nt of Agri culture, Fo res try and Fisheries, Australi a.

The strea m. m anager described in th e introductio n abo ve can ge t three sp ecific things from this manual: â&#x20AC;˘ som e concepts and principles that underpin th e stream rehabilitatio n plan (Volume 1) â&#x20AC;˘ a planning procedure to ensure that impo rtant things are not missed (Volume 1) â&#x20AC;˘ planning and technical tools that can be used to implement the plan (Volume 2) .

In this article we to uch o n some examples o f the first two points: Principles

1. A health y stream is one that sustains biological comm unities (plants , fish , bugs, etc.) that are as close as possible to th e pre-

European state (this, of cou rse , is o ft en impossible).

2 . C o mmunities in a strea m, and th e sys te m s tha t sustain t h e m , ca n b e considered the natural assets that managers shou ld strive to protect and improve.

3. Human impacts have led to the decli ne of biological systems such that they are now do minated by few native species, or alien species .

4. So me resilient stream systems will become health ie r over time as they reco ver from human impact.

5. Strea m rehabilitation involves hastening that recovery, by pro vidin g suffi cient resources and living space for communities to th rive.

6. B ecause w e o ften do not kno w what natural syste ms require , it is bes t to copy re mnants of th e original system that re main in good co ndition.

7. Above all, it is easy, qu ick and c heap to damage natural streams. It is hard , slow , and expe nsive to return them to anything like their original state. For this reason, the highest prio rity fo r stream rehabilitators is to protect th e streams that remain in good condition .

Planning procedures

There are no exa m ples of rigorously planned and e va luated stream rehabilitati on projec ts at th e prese nt time in Australia. A recent review concluded that the main reasons for failure of stream rehabilitation proj ects are: poor definition o f project obj ec ti ves, wrong diagnosis of WATER JANUARY 2001

25

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

obj ectives that will be the core the real problem in a stream , of our stream rehabilitatio n and fail ure to consider the plan. These should specify catchment context of works exactly what we hope to (Ru th e rford et al., 1998). achieve , and clearly specify the Often the main impediment to time w ithin w hich we shou ld strea m re habilitation can be achieve th em. social and political factors, Step 8 . Are the objectives rather than poor understanding feasible? Are the objectives of what to do. Given the described in Step 7 feasible? pote n tia l comp l ex it y of Many factors (such as cost, planning a stream rehabilitation politics, undesirable conseproject and that it co uld take quences for other uses of the ma n y yea r s and many stream) could force managers to tho u sa nd s of doll ars to alter the priorities that ha ve complete, it is important to been identified. At the end of follow a thorough planning this step we will have settled on procedure. a set of problems to treat.

The M anual presents a 12 step planning pro ce dur e Step 9. What is the detailed (Figure 2) . This chec k- list is design of the project? We really no di ffe re nt from procenow need to develop a detailed dures used to plan any activity, design . What specific things do simply articula ted in ways we need to do to achieve o ur relevant to stream rehabili Figure 2 . The 12 steps of the stream rehabilitation planning objectives? These can range tation . (See also H obbs and procedure. from doing noth ing at all , to N orton, 1996; Erskine and Webb, 1999; prioritisation scheme proposed in the plannin g controls, fl ow manipulation, or Ko ehn et al. , 2000). manual, the gull y shown in Fi gure 1 co mple te channel reconstruction . would only be a rehabilitation prio rity if T he following p roced ure is based on Step 10. How w ill we evaluate the management of strea m reaches. It assumes th e sedim ent that it produced threa ten ed project?

M easurable obj ectives for our that we have a good general knowledge natural assets downstream (eg. fish habitat), projects were defined in Step 7 . In this of th e condition and history of the reaches or ifheadward erosio n threate ned reaches step, we plan how we w ill evalua te in good condition upstream. as a starting point. w hether we have achieved those obj ecStep 6.

What are our strategies to Step 1. What are our goals for this t ives at th e e nd of the proj ec t. protect natural assets and improve strea1n ? There are many reasons w hy Impo rtan tl y, evaluation does not always the stream? Identify and list the things people want to manage streams. H ere we ha ve to be diffic ult and expensive. that we can do to protect and improve e mphasise the e nvironmental values of the important assets in the reac hes that we Step 11. How will we schedule and str ea m s, an d t h e development of identified as a high priority in the last step. implement the project? De ve lop a sustainable biodiversity. Th is goa l tim elin e, alloca te responsibility, fi nalise Step 7. What are our specific and underpins everyth ing else that fo ll ows in funding, do the works, and organise the measurable objectives? From the the process . evalu ation sc hedule . options defined at Step 6, create de tailed Step 2. E nco uraging others to share the goals. Streams have many valu es, not just ecological. Do other people share the vision of an ecologica ll y re habilitated stream? If not, is th ere some way that we can de velop su ch a vision?

Step 3. How has the stream changed since European settlement? D escribe the pre-disturbance stream, as we ll as its present condition.

Step 4. What are the stream's main environmental assets and problems?

R ehabilitation is about pro t ecti ng , improving, and (if necessa ry) creating natural, environm en tal assets. An asset is any aspect of a stream that is already in good enough condition to m eet our goal.

Step 5. Setting priorities: Which reaches of the strea m. have th e high est priority fo r attentio n? Contrary to Figure 3. A reach of stream in t he lower Wimmera River, western Victoria. Thi s present practice, we wo uld not usually reach of stream (hypothetically) may prove to be a high priority for rehabil itation start with the m ost damaged reac hes, but because (a) it may contain rare o rganisms, (b) it may be a ra re reach that is in wi th preservi ng the best ones! Then q uit e good condition (c) it is deteriorating (eg. because of flow abstraction), but move onto the o nes where the co ndition this deterioration could be easily remedied. is dete rio ratin g . For exa mple, under the

26

WATER JANUARY 2001

CATCHMENT

Step 12. Has the project worked?

The fi nal step of the process is to maintain the work that has bee n do ne, and to sit down at the e nd of the eva luatio n period and r~flecr on the success of the projec t.

It is also important to co mmunicate the results w ith othe r people working 111 stream rehab ilitation.

Application of the procedure Two important points need to be made about this plann in g procedure . The fi rst is that planning fo r stream rehabilitation is not a linear process. T here are several fee d-back loops in the procedure. For exa m p le, th e hi g h est pri o rity task (ide ntified at Step 5) may prove to be completely unfeasible (Step 8), w hich may force you to reassess the goals of the project (Step 1) .

Th e second point is that th e c hronological hi erarchy of steps in a project are matched by a spatia l h ierarchy. That is, the big end of the plann ing (vision , setting priorities, and problem defi nition); tends to concentrate on the regional or w holeof- ca tc hm c nt sca le. As th e plan ning moves dow n to ide nti fying so lutions, detailed designs and eva luation ; the foc us te nds to become a grou p of reac hes, a sin gle reac h , and a sin gle gro up of stakeho lders.

HYDROLOGY

Acknowledgments The manual described in this article could not have been compl eted w ithout the generous support of th e Land and Wat e r Re so urc es R esearc h a n d D evelopment Corporati on and the advice of nu merous people.

Bibliography Erskine W D and Webb A A (1999) A protocol for river re habilitati on. In I. R utherfurd and R . 13artley (eds.), Seco11d A11s1ralim1 S1ren111 J\!fo11n,~c1111'111 Co11fere11ce, Adelaide, S0111/t A11strnli11. Cooperative Resea rch Centre for Catchment H ydrology, pp. 237 - 43.

H obbs R. J and Norton DA ( 1996) Towards a conceptua l framework for restoratio n ecology. Rcstorn1io11 Ecofo}!y, 4 : 93 - 11 0 .

Koehn J , 13rie rley G, C ant 13, Lucas A (2000) N ational River R est oration Framework.

L WRR D C and Nat i onal R ivers Consortium, Canberra.

R urhcrfurd I D, Ladson A, Til leard J T, Stewardson M, Ewing S, 13rierley G and Fryirs K (1998). l~esearch and development needs for rive r resto ration in Australia.

Occasiona l paper, 15 / 98. LW l~R D C, Canbe rra Rutherfurd I D and Jerie K (2000) Setting priorities for rehabilitating streams: first identify the assets! International Landcare Conference, Melbourne. March , 2000, Landcare Australia. l~urhe,furd I D, Jerie Kand Marsh NA ( 2000a) A rehabilitation manual for Australian streams: . LWRRDC and the CRC for Catchment H ydrology, Canberra, I 91 pp.

(Volumes I & 2).

The Authors Ian Rutherfurd is a Senior Lecturer at th e Uni vers i ty of M e lb o urn e (id ruth@ un imelb.edu.au), and Leader of the Stream R estoratio n Program of the Coo p e rati ve R esea rch Centre for Catchment H ydro logy. Ph. (03) 8344 7 123. Kathryn Jerie is now a scien tific o fficer with the Dept P rimary Industries, Wate r and Environm en t, Tasmania, and Nick Marsh was a postgraduate stude nt at the University of Melbourn e, now at Griffith Uni ve rsity.

Whilst al l o f the steps in the procedure are important, we be li eve that th e parts that are presentl y done least well in Aust ra lian projects, arc: settin g an overall visio n for the proj ect (Step I), ide ntificati on of natural assets and problems (Step 4), setting priorities (Step 5), and project eva lu ation (Ste p 10) . (Ruth erfo rd and J erie, 2000)

Conclusions Stream rehabilitation is still a re latively new e nd eavo ur in Australia. Stream an d catchme nt managers can use the 12 Step procedure in th e stream rehabili tation m an u al to h el p pl an rehabilitation proje cts. Groups that have used the procedure have found it cha lle nging to gathe r su fficient in form ation, bu t th ey have also found that th e procedure provides so me rigou r to an un fa miliar process. In reality, most of th e material in the manual remains speculative because we have, as yet, had little experi ence w ith the actual practice of returning natural valu es to streams in Australia. For this reason , the C R.C C H is continuing its resea rc h in this area w ith a ded icated Stream R.estoration research program, that is concentrating o n evaluating the effecti veness of rehabi litati on planning and proj ects. Updates on this program can be found at www.catchm e nt.crc.o rg.a u / riverrestoration .

WATER JANUARY 2001

27

CATCHMENT

HYDROLOGY

Postgraduate Education in the CRC for Catchment Hydrology J Fien T he C R C for Catchm ent H ydrology's Education and T rai ning Program deh vers supplementary educati on and trainin g for postgrad uate students, researchers, stakehold ers and othe rs asso ciated w ith the C RC. M any project ac tivities will be co nd u c ted in partn e rshi p w ith th e Commu nica tion and Adoption Program to pro vide sho rt courses and w orkshops that bu ild cap acity in water- related industries to integrate the findi ngs of CRC research proj ects into everyday ope ratio ns.

PhD students in the C RC are a special audience fo r th ese courses. This is a result of t he in c reas i ng recognitio n tha t postgraduate resea rch studen ts require a range of additional education and capacity bui lding opportuniti es if their ski lls and knowledge are to be of di rect so cial, econ om ic and vocation al rel evance upon gradu atio n.

As a rule, P hD degrees are awarded by Australian u n iversities on th e basis of a substantial research report, called a thesis.

H oweve r, the recent Wh ite Paper on u n i v e r s i t y r ese ar c h b y th e C o mmo nwealth governm ent raises som e important qu estions. T he White P ape r, K11owledge a11d h,11011ation: A policy state111e11t 011. research mid research trai11i11,1t, released by the Co mm o nw ea lth G overnm ent in D ece mbe r 1999, set fi ve obj ectives fo r postgraduate research traini ng: • To advance knowledge and u nderstan ding; • To inspire and e na ble ind ividua ls to develop the ir capabilities to the highest potential thro ughou t the ir lives (fo r pe rsonal growth and fu lfi lment, fo r effective participatio n in the workfo rce and for constru cti ve contri butions to so ciety); • To aid the appli ca tio n of knowledge and unde rstanding to the benefit of th e econom y and society; • To e nable indi viduals to adapt and learn , consiste nt with the needs of an adaptable knowledge-based eco n om y at loca l, regio nal and natio nal le vels; an d • T o enab le individu als to co ntribute to a d e m ocrati c, c iv ilised society and promote th e tole rance and debate which unde rpins it. 1

Australian theses are recognised around the wo rld as exce lle nt in ac hievin g th e first of th ese objectives. H owever, the W hite paper exp ressed concern that many " research programmes ... are too narro w , too specialised and too theoretical leadi ng to gradu ates w ho se co m m u nica ti o n , interpersonal, and leadership skills require further development." 2 Uni versiti es are p resently d evelopin g research manageme nt plans to address this and o ther issues ide ntified in the Wh ite P a p e r. T h e C RC 's p os t g raduat e edu cation program has played a major rol e in addressin g these needs already, bu t w ith in the foc used context of catchm e nt and related water ind ustries.

To comp lem ent the researc h linkages between acade mi cs and indu stry , a range of sho rt courses is being plan ned in partnership with postgradu ate students , their supervisors and o th er research , industry and agency partn ers in the C R C. Th ese will include stud ies in: • Integrated Ca tchm ent Ma nagem ent • Scie n ce commu nicati on and med ia skills • Interpersonal an d gro up fac ilitatio n skills • Leadership, strategic planning and time mana geme nt • T he interfa ce betwee n industry needs, research , policy and plann in g • Strategies fo r enhan cing stakeholder parti cipation in research , policy de velopm en t, p lan n ing and decision making • Gran t proposal writi ng • R esearch design and planning • Proj ect plannin g and evaluation • Ca reer plann ing A range of innovative flexible-learn ing strategies for deve lopin g these skills is possible, in cluding: intensive 2-3 day wo rkshops, e-l earning and net foru m s, study tours and ind ustry o r agency place me nts and me nto ring .

These co u rses w ill co mp le m e n t training in th e substantive fields o f stude nts' in vestigations and in specific research methods provided by the un iversities in wh ich students are e nro ll ed.

N ego tiatio ns have co mmenced with partner u n iversities to exp lo re ways in

I http :/ / w ww .dcetya.go v.au / hig hcred/ w hitcpapn / I .ht lll # I 2 http :/ / www.dcctya .go v.au / hig hcrccl/ w hitcpaper/ 3.httn

28

WATER JANUARY 2001

w hi ch these add itional studies can be recogn ised , perhaps throu gh the award of a Certifi cate based upon a po rtfo lio of training outco mes.

The CRC has j o ined w ith the Coastal C R C to appoint a Lec tu rer in Scien ce Leadership , Mr J ames W helan, to wo rk alongside the Edu cation an d T ra ini ng Program Leader, Dr j ohn Fie n of G riffith Uni ve rsity, to coordinate the deve lopme n t and delivery of these co urses.

Ot h e r acti vities in th e P rogra m include: • D evelopin g an on-li ne co urse(s) in integrated catchm ent m anage me nt fo r in tegratio n in th e m asters, graduate diploma and hon o urs programs of partner uni vers ities. T hese will be developed in ' fl exible delivery fo rm at' to facilitate adoptio n. T hese cou rses (and co mponents of them) will also be offered as part of the short-co urse and tra ining program o f the C R C. • Deve loping resources and courses fo r e nh ancing th e wo rkshop skills o f C RC researche rs, fo c us catc hm e nt co o rdinators and othe r sta ke h olde rs. T hi s Train - th e-Train er approac h w ill enable those w ho conduct research to deli ver the o u tco m es of resea rch fi rst- h and by workin g closely wi th resou rce agency staff, othe r environ me ntal professio nals and community me mbe rs. In collaboration with the Commu n ication and Adoption Program , these activities w ill contribute to the effec tive disse m ination and adoption of researc h outco m es th roug h a coord i n a t e d work sh o p program .

• Providin g an advisory service for C R C partners on community education and communication strategies, and on appropr iat e c urri c ulum a nd r eso ur ce deve lopment proj ects for scho ols.

The Authors John Fien is Assoc Professo r in th e Fac u lty o f En vironm e ntal Scie nces, Griffith Un ive rsity, Nathan , Brisban e 4 1 11. J .F ie n @ m a ilb ox .g u.edu. a u .

James Whelan is the C R.C Lecturer in S c i e n c e Lead e r s h i p , ].Wh e la n @ mailbo x.gu. edu.au

WAYE R

DRINKING WATER QUALITY: A RISK MANAGEMENT APPROACH SE Hrudey Introduction Pro vidin g hi gh quali ty drinking w ater to lllillion s of people in th e ir own hoI11 es is surely one o f the trul y re markabl e ad va nces of o ur technolo g ical age . This achieve m e nt ma y not ha ve th e gl itter of inte rne t comm u nicati o ns, but w hich tec hn ology would most pe ople c hoose fi rst fo r the ir hoI11 e: a perso nal co mputer or a c lea n , safe piped w ater suppl y;, Un fo rtun ately, socie ty m ay take thi s amen ity fo r granted until they lose it. J ust ask reside nts of W alke rto n , O ntario, a sm all to w n in ce ntral Canada, wh ere a w aterborn e o u tbreak o f ÂŁ -coli - 0157 kille d at least seven pe ople and m ade another 2000 il l in M ay 2000. R es ide nts lost the use o f th eir w ate r suppl y for months w hile the cause o f th is co n tam inati o n ep isode was be ing in vestigate d.

This inc ident has bee n u nd e rgo in g a jud ic ial public inq u iry to de termin e what led to th e Walke rton disaste r and w hat im plication s this disaster has for the safety of drinkin g wa ter in Ontari o (www .w alkerconinquiry.co111). W e o ug ht to as k: how do tragedies like th is happen in a ri ch country bl essed w ith abundant fresh w ater? Wh at e nduring lesso ns can Australia learn and apply to drinking w ater qu ality m anage m e nt?

The Australian Drinking Water Scene Au stralia is a much drie r cou n try than Ca nada, but the populatio n has ge nera !J y co n centrate d w he re wa ter resources ca n be adequate, if w isel y man aged. As in C anada , the re is a g rea ter c hall enge in insu ri ng safe wa ter fo r sm all er rural co mlllunities . Aust ralia also has a n excellent se t of d rinking w ater guidelines in place, combin ed w ith an effective process fo r update and revision (N HMR.C 20 0 0) . These g uidelines ha ve evo lved to provide va luabl e in sights on drinking w ate r qua li ty m anagem ent and sensible b a lan c in g of ri s k s and b e n e fit s .

U n fortunately, m any people vi ew th e d rinking w ater g ui delin es as just a cabl e of numbe rs. So m e believe you need only m eet the numbers and all will be well.

Muc h has been recently been writte n on the subject of R isk Managem ent, e .g. Nadebaum et al, " Water" July/ August 2000, and here Professor 1-lrudey fro m Canada gives us his pragmatic view.

Perhaps such a simplistic view mjght wo rk if all of our water quality parameters w ere a lll e na b le t o c ontinu ou s rea l time m eas ure lllent a nd i f t h ey direc tl y m easured all of t he agents that ma y ca use illn ess. H owever, man y water qua li ty paralll eters are o nly surroga tes fo r the age nts that cause illn ess. Furth ermo re, most llloni to rin g is limited in sc ope and results o nly beco m e available afte r th e wate r has been de li vered to consulll crs (Allen el al 2000). C o nsequ entl y, safe drinkin g w ate r quality I11 anagc I11ent delllands a lllore co lllprehensivc approach th an ca n be ac hi e ve d by n arro w ly foc using o n sa tisfying a table o f numbers.

Likewise, ad vocating th e con versio n of gui delines into enforceable regulatio ns will no t, by itse lf, assure safe wate r. If regulati o ns foc us onl y o n co lllpliance o f

m o nito rin g data to m eet the numbers, robust protection o f public health canno t be assured. That assurance hes in ado ptin g a total quality m anage lll e nt system th at uses monito rin g effec tively as a key cleme nt to verify that th e e ntire syste m fro m catchm e nt to tap is fun ctio nin g as need e d to delive r sa fe water. Well con ceived and respo nsibly impl e mented g uide lin es can provide th e fl exibi lity necessa1y fo r insuring that investm ents are put to th e best use for securi ng safe d rinkin g water in a manne r that is appropriate to an indi vidual ra w wate r source.

A ri gid system based so lely o n satisfy ing n umeri cal regulation s will no t be as effe cti ve o r sec ure .

Be c;1u se g ui de lines are vo luntary, co nsumers may question w h y they sho uld trust a water authority to d o th e ri g ht

C&SBRAND AUSTRALIAN FILTER COAL & C&SBRAND GRANULAR& POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBONS INCLUDING OUR INNOVATIVE COAL/WOOD BLENDED P.A.C. Phone or fax for sound technical advice from experienced personnel.

JAMES CUMMING & SONS PTY LTD 319 Parramatta Road AUBURN NSW 2144 Phone: (02) 9748 2309 Fax: (02) 9648 4887

QUALITY ENDORSED COMPANY AS/ ISO 9002 STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

WATER JANUARY 2001

29

WATER

thing? Distrust fo r volunta1y initiatives will ofte n lead to calls fo r require me nts to be enshrined in legislation. T he challenge fo r th e wate r industry is to earn and to maintain consumer confidence so that th e inh e re nt ad va nta ges o f a flex ibl e, kno w ledge- dr iv en gu id e lin es- ba se d management system ca n be re tained. The rigid regulatory syste m operating in th e United States and emerging in E urope can misdirect valuable technical resources o n inefficient legal disputes rath er than on m a na g ing drinkin g w at e r qu alit y accordin g to scientific knowledge . A case in p oint is th e recent co urt decision con ce rning the U.S. Environm ental Protec tion Agency decision co maintain their maximum conta1ninant level goal fo r chloroform at zero despite con vin cing scie ntific evide nce contrary to th eir position (Pontius 2000). T he court ruled that th e U.S. EPA decision had violated the Safe Drinking Water Act by failin g to use the best available sc ience and that the agency decision was " arbitrary and capricious" and "in excess of statuto ry authority." While an appropriate ruling was ultimately achi eved , we ought co question what resou rces were invested in this lega l dispute .

Consumer confide nce can be earn ed and maintained by adopting and practicing effective risk manageme nt to achi eve th e key drinking water quali ty goals o f protec ting public h ealth and providing hi gh quality wa te r at an affordable price .

Th ese goals fa vour adoption o f a comprehensive quality management approach that documents for everyone concern ed that the risk manage me nt syste m is trul y effec tive . An approach for ac hie vin g effective risk management can be founded on a set of principles for drinking wate r qua li ty management.

Risk Management Principles for Assuring Drinking Water Quality

1. Anticipate and prevent harm rather than just reacting co problems 2 . Set pri orities based on risks rathe r than hazards 3. Seek actions that will ac hieve the greatest overall reduction of risk 4 . R ecognise th e in evitable role of human be haviour in risk manageme nt 5. C onvert hindsight inco fo resight 6. Maintain a broad perspec tive ; avo id tunnel vision 7. Distinguish e vidence from infe rence; poli cy from fact 8 . U se risk assessme nt co inform risk m anageme nt; not co make the decisio ns 9. C onfront un certainty by making the best use of what we can or do know

30

WATER JANUARY 2001

10. Avoid complacency with a job well do ne 1. Anticipate and prevent harm rather than just reacting to problems.

The primary goals of the drinkin g water industty are to protect public health and provide high quality wate r at an affordable price. More than a ce ntury of experi ence in publi c h ealth pra ctice has shown us that preventio n is be tte r than cure. Th ese lessons clearly appl y to drinking wa ter issues wh ere we know that, in most cases, prevention is muc h more effi cient than remedial reaction. For exa mpl e , fa r- s ight e d ca t c hm e nt mana ge m e nt is m ore effective th an superficial control m easures taken only after contaminatio n sources are allo wed to develop in a ca tchm ent. Likewise, reliance only on compliance with o utput quality gu idelin es is a fund ame ntally reactive approa ch becau se correcti ve action s can o fte n o nly be taken after problems ha ve reached the consume r.

2. Set priorities based on risks rather than hazards.

Providing safe, hi gh quality drinkin g wate r is a compl ex, interdisciplinary undertaking. There are countless contaminants that could compromise water quality, far more than could eve r be included in drinking water guidelines.

Not every pote ntial problem can warrant full preventive m easures. T his means we mu st be abl e to di stinguish hazard fro m risk. H azard is the potential to cause harm .

Risk is the proba b ility that a hazard will cause harm Qardine and Hru dey 1999a).

For example, CryÂľto sÂľoridi11111 is a hazard in any surface water source, but th e risk for Cryptosporidi11111 is th e probability that viable, infec tive cysts will breac h a water syste m' s barriers in sufficient numbers to ca use illn ess amo ng consum ers. W e need to be able to make this distinction and de vote our atte ntion and resources to actions based o n the risk and not just the haza rd.

3. Seek actions that will achieve the greatest overall reduction of risk.

Once we can distinguish risk fro m hazard we then need to recognise that risk management always involves risk tradeoffs.

In drinking water treatment, we recognise the need to disinfe ct drinking wate r because failure to do so will usually assure waterborne disease. H owever, th e reactive chemi ca ls we must use to inacti vate pathogens in evitably produ ce disinfec tion by-produ cts which the mselves may pose some health risk . Concerns with chlorinated disinfection by-products (DBPs) have led som e to advocate abandoning chl orination in fa vour of alternati ve

disinfec tants like ozone or c hlo ri ne diox ide . We h ave co n1.e to recognise , ho wever, th at these other reactive chemi cals in evitably prod u ce their o w n DBPs, som e of whic h may we ll be m o re harmful than those produ ced by chlo ri nation (Krasn er 1999).

H en ce there are no zero ri sk alternati ves and a blind pursuit o f ze ro risk may simply increase o th er risks. O verall , we must see k to do more good than harm with our risk mana gem ent. Wh ile th ere continues to be a substantial international research effort underway to de te rmine if there arc any adverse health effects caused

by DBPs and we aim to minimize DBP presen ce in trea ted drinking wa ter fo llowing a precautionary approac h, we know from th e o ngoing death toll in und erde veloped countri es that inadequate disinfection of drinking wa ter is certain to cause disease. O ccasio nally, as happened at W alkerto n, th ese re minde rs about the certain dange rs of waterborne disease strike in developed countries as well.

4. Recognise the inevitable role of human behaviour in risk management.

The norm al state o f human be haviour is to make some mistakes. C onsequ e ntly, critical systems mu st be robust enough to limit th e consequ ences o f human error.

In on e case that I recall, a new computer control system was installed in a water treatment plant and was unde rgo ing start- up pro ble m s a nd co ntinu o u sly se ttin g off alarm s. T he operators qui ckly l ea rn e d t o i g n o r e th e a larm s .

Unfortunately, w he n the bulk c hlorin e supply ran out durin g a night shift, the ope rator igno red th e low c hlorine alarm and a city awoke to a boil wate r order the n ext day wh e n the failure was recognised. In this case, a typica l human error carried potentiall y serious consequ e nces.

A system is ultimately flawed if it can easi ly all ow commo n and inev itable human e rrors to cause serious co nsequ ences.

Another human dime nsion that must be conside red is that people act o n w ha t they beli eve. T his means that pe rceptio n is realit y, regardless o f ho w mu c h tec hnical evidence may contradict th e perceptions. Som etim es the public is muc h m o re se nsible than tec hnocrats are willi ng to belie ve Qardin e et al. 1999).

Ultimately, effecti ve risk manage me nt cannot be achieved without influ encin g hum a n b e h a v i o ur a nd a c ti o n.

Consequently, risk managem ent decisions must be informed about w hat people ac tually believe, no t just what ri sk managers w ould like peop le to believe.

WATER

Hazard or Level of Challenge Low

Medium

No Barriers

Single Barrier

Multiple Barners Advanced Multiple

Barriers

Figure 1 A. Simplified risk assessment approach derived from Bartram et al. 1999

Risk commu ni ca tio n mu st be tw o way com mu ni cation Qa rdi ne and 1-Jrudey 1999b).

5. Convert hindsight into foresight.

T ho se w ho fail to lea rn fro m hi story arc sure ly doo m ed to repeat it. Therefore, w e need system s in p lace to l ea rn fr om our mi stakes and to provide fee dback fo r impro ve ments that wi ll redu ce t hose mi stakes. M uc h o f o ur knowle dge abo ut ho w to succeed in treating wate r has been ga ine d by learnin g from ou r failures, but w e need to work at learning e ffi c iently, no t rand oml y . Thi s m ea ns that we need to co mm ie reso u rces to specifi c p roc ess eva luation a nd i mprove m e nt for rec urrin g pro ble ms eve n if th ey are n ot yet exceeding nume ri cal li mits. That also m e an s an e ffec tive wa te r authority w ill co m mit hum an resources to o ngo ing pro b le m analysis and solving of future prob lems. O ptimizing resources to do the j o b w ith o nly minimum pe rsonn el based o n the tim es w hen everythin g is w orking w ill guarantee that t here w ill be inad eq uate ca pa c ity to lea rn fro m m istakes or to intro du ce m eaningful imp rove m e n ts .

6. Maintain a broad perspective; avoid tunnel vision.

M os t t ec hn ica l pro bl e m s mu se b e simplified to allow technical solu ti o ns to be ide ntifi e d. W e are o fte n successful in d eve lo pin g tec hni ca l so lutions b y de fi n in g a pro bl e m ve ry na rrow ly.

H owe ver, we ca nnot affo rd to mi ss the fores t fo r the trees. Some tim es t he e asy so lutio n to a narrow ly de fin ed proble m m ay b ring alo n g m o re se rious problem s o ve r time. For exampl e, dismi ssing a recurrin g taste and odo ur problem as just an aesth e ti c conce rn m ay allow a w ate r auth o ri ty to b eli eve t hat th ey are d elive rin g w ater that m eets publi c hea lth ne ed s. Y et , if w ater is o ffe n sive to co nsu m ers a nd the wa te r auth o ri ty

shows li t tle in te rest in so lvin g the pro b le m , consume r con fid e nce in the ab ility of the w ater authori t y to dea l w ith o th e r wate r quality p ro blem s is sur e ly und e r mi ned a nd c o mp a n y re putation is negati vely affec ted Qardin e et al. 1 999).

7. Distinguish evidence from inference; policy from fact.

Most health- related g uide line numbers a re d e rive d w ith m o re j u d ge m e nt (inference) than direc t evid ence (H rudey

1999a). As a res ult of o ur inability to expe rim ent o n human p o p ulatio ns fo r e thi cal reasons to generate di rect evidence o f health effects, policy decisio ns are o ften ne eded to fill in fo r o ur lack o f d irect knowledge (H rudey 1998) . Such policies are usually design ed to err o n the side o f ca ution , some tim es w ith substa nti al margins fo r erro r. In th e case o f q uanti tative can cer risk assessm ent, uncertainty can span several orde rs of magnitude (Thomas and Hrudey 1997). Th is m eans that occasionall y exceeding a chroni c health risk g ui deline (if deri ved assuming li fe tim e exposure) by sm all m argins (1 0, 20 o r e ven 50%) w o uld not be a valid cause fo r issuin g a hea lth alert. H oweve r, exceedin g g uidelin es by a sm all margi n shoul d be take n as a wa rning th at justifi es care ful in vesti gatio n o f th e ca use to elimi nate futur e proble ms.

8. Use risk assessment to inform risk management; not to make the decisions .

Likely the greatest mi sunde rstand ing abo u t risk assess m en t is the be li ef that it can prov id e suffi c ientl y con vin c ing answ e rs to be able dictate th e "co rrec t" risk managem ent action s. This outcome might arise in cases w he re the risk is very large, but oft en in suc h cases the problem

SPECIALISING IN ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

~

-

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP

Water Supply & Treatment Water Quality Management

NATIONALLY

Management Systems & Compliance Auditing Water Resources Development, Hydrology, Irrigation & Drainage Wastewater Collection, Treatment & Reuse Environmental AudiVSite Investigations Contamination Assessment & Remediation Hazardous/Industrial Waste Management Solid Waste Management Environmental Impact Statements Environmental Management Planning & System Development Emissions Testing & Air Quality Monitoring

Neville Ward, Ron Edwards & Dr Peter Nadebaum (03) 9272 6666 NEWCASTLE

Ian Gregson (02) 4929 3255 NSW

David Russell, Dr Ian Garrard (02) 9412 9999

OLD Stephen Trainor, George Khouri & Brad Steele (07) 3233 1611 VI C

Don Vincent, Dr Jeff Bazelmans, Mike Juleff, Dr Wayne Drew (03) 9272 6666

fÂŁeg i5 consulting Australia Offices throughout Australia and South East Asia

Website: www.egisconsult.com.au

WA

Paul Turner (08) 9220 9300 SA

Paul Lindon (08) 8271 2322

WATER JANUARY 2001

31

A 'I' IE R

is so obvious that formal risk assessment is unnecessa1y. Likewise, risk assessment might also correctly predict that no action is required, if a precautionary risk assessment predicts negligible risk. More often, however, risk assessm.ent is relied upon for guidance in situations where the risk is neither clearly negligible nor compellingly large.

The reality is that risk assessment can only produce predictions and in most cases, these predictions carry considerable uncertainty (Hrudey 19996). Highly uncertain predictions of moderate level

risks are very unlikely to dictate what actions must be taken. These decisions are far more likely to require judgement that considers many factors other than numerical risk estimates alone. Thus, good risk management decisions must be wellinformed decisions, including recognition of how much uncertainty exists about the risk predictions.

9. Confront uncertainty by making the best use of what we can or do know.

Drinking water supply relies on high quality science and technology in complex interdisciplina1y areas. Water authorities must enhance and promote a knowledgebased culture. They cannot focus only on marketing or administrative values. The inevitable uncertainties that are involved in health risks from drinking water must be biidged by makingjudgement calls that are based, as far as possible, on what is or can be known. Those judgements require a practical and effective understanding of the scientific and technical knowledge that underlies the management of water quantity, water quality and treatment technology. For example, a sound understanding of which bacteria are represented by the total coliform parameter offers a much different perspective than a simplistic view that total coliforms must represent fecal contamination because they are called coliforms.

10. Avoid complacency with a job well done.

The drinking water industty was woefully ill-prepared to deal with the trace contaminant revelations of the 1970s, likely because of the decades of success at avoiding large and/or fatal waterborne epidemics. Although we are now generally dealing with health risks of diminishing size, failure to deal effectively with the pervasive perceptions of risk will inevitably undermine consumer confidence. The dramatic growth in bottled water consumption observed in most developed countries represents a vote of non-confidence by consumers in their public water supply. The substantial and

32

WATER JANUARY 2001

growing dollars spent on bottled \.Vater may undermine the willingness of consumers to invest in improving the quality of their public system, even if such investments are far more cost effective.

The water indust1y simply cannot afford to rest on its laurels. We must be able to strive for continuous improvement as we learn more about water quality challenges and effective means for managing them.

Implementation of Drinking Water Quality Management Principles

Risk management for water quality requires finding ways to transform good judgement into operating practice. Water authorities should be wa1y of complex, quantitative risk assessments that rely on inscrutable mathematical models. Rarely will enough knowledge be available to complete a meaningful, detailed quantitative risk assessment. In most cases it will be better to use fully understandable, semi-quantitative or qualitative approaches that are transparent and can be fully understood by involved parties. An example of a simplified and practical approach to assessing risk to drinking water quality is given in Figure 1.

There is increasing recognition in the water industry of the importance of a preventive strategy for drinking water quality management and the protection of public health that goes beyond mere compliance with numerical limits and offers more focus on source protection and process optimisation. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia, in conjunction with the Co-operative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment, are working to develop comprehensive guidelines for drinking water quality management which incorporates a risk management framework to address the key principles governing drinking water quality and safety from catchment to tap

(NHMRC 1999).

Water quality failures are usually the result of failing to do what we know needs to be done. A risk management approach is a logical approach grounded in principles that everyone should be able to support.

Incorporating this approach into a comprehensive preventive strategy can demonstrate to all parties that a water authority is doing what needs to be done to protect public health and provide high quality water at an affordable price.

References Allen, M.J, Clancy J L. and. Rice E W (2000).

"The Plain Hard Truth About Pathogen Monitoring." Journal of the American Water Works Association. 92 (9): 64-76.

Bartram.], Burch M. and Falconer I (1999).

"Situation Assessment, Planning and Management." Chapter 6 In: Toxic Cym10b'1Cteria i11 ~Valer, I. Chorus and J. Bartram (Eds). E&Fn Span Publishers for the World Health Organization, Geneva.

Hrudey SE (1999a) Health risk assessment. What we know and how we know it. Proc. 18th Federal Co111,cmfo11 Australia11 Mlatcr a11d Wastewater Associatio11, 11-14 April 1999.

Adelaide.

Hrudcy S E (J 998). "Quantitative Cancer Risk Assessment - Pitfalls and Progress." Iswes i11 E11viro11111c11tal Science a11d Tal111ology.(Royal Society of Chemistry) 9: 57-90.

Hrudey S E.(19996) "Drinking Water and Health Risk: Balancing Risk and Reason" Keynote Address. Proaâ&#x20AC;˘cdili_!!S. 7th i\latitmal Co11ferc11cc 011 Dri11ki11,!! Water. Canadian Water and Wastewater Association. 1-11.

Jardine C G and Hrudey S E (1999). "What is Risk?" Chap 17. Environmental Health For All. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 205-211 Jardine C G and Hntdey SE (1999). "Promoting Active Public Participation" Chap 13.

E11viro11111e11tal Hc11/t/i For All. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 157-168.

Jardine C G, Gibson N and Hrudey S E ( l 999).

"Detection of Odour and Health Risk Perception of Drinking Water. Water Scie11ce a11d. Tcc/1110/t~~y. 40(6): 91-98.

Krasner S W (1999) Chemistry of Disinfection By-Product Formation. pp. 27-52. Chapter 2, In: Formatio11 and Co11trol of Disi1ifc:ctio11 ByProducts i11 Dri11kilt!; H'ater. P.C. Singer. Ed., American Water Works Association. Denver.

NI-IMRC (1999) Discussion Paper - A Framework for Drinking Water Quality Management. Working Draft used at the National Workshop on Drinking Water Quality Management. Organised by the NHMRC/ ARMCANZ Coordinating Group on Drinking Water. Adelaide, Australia. 8 October 1999.

NHMRC (2000) Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. National Health and Medical Research Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand. Web site for download of pdf format guidelines: www.nhmrc. health.gov.au/publicat/synopses/ eh 19syn.htm links to reports on the progress of the rolling revision process at website: www. waterquality .ere.au Pontius F W (2000) Chloroform:science, policy and politics. ]011mal (if the American Water Works Association. 92(5): 12-18.

Thomas S P and Hrudey S E (1997). Risk qf Death i11 Ca11ada - Ml/wt IVc K11ou1 a11d How Hie K11011' It. University of Alberta Press.

292pp.

The Author Prof. Steve E. Hrudey is Professor of Environmental Health Sciences in the Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Alberta and a Member of the Alberta Environmental Appeal Board Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is also a member of the Research Advismy Panel to the Commissioner of the Walkerton Inquiry (www. ,:valkertoninquiry .com) Email Stevc.Hrudey@ualberta.ca

WATER

LESSONS FROM THE 1998 SYDNEY WATER CRISIS J L Clancy Th is paper was published originally in the Journal ef the America,, Water Works Associatio11, M arch 2000. (Vol 92, Issue 3), copyright 2000. For this summary the Editor has de leted much of the details of the development and outcomes of the 1998 Sydney Water crisis, with which Australian readers will be all too familiar. For the detailed and well- referenced discussion on analytical tech niques, interested readers are refe1Ted to the original. Th.is synopsis deals w ith the issues of anal ytical quality control and the suitability of pathogen mo nitoring for public health decisions .

P ermission has been gra nted by th e au thor and by AWW A to publish this mu c h shorte r ve rsion .

Abstract During th e 1998 drink ing wa te r quality crisis in Sydn ey le vels o f both Ciardia cysts and Cryptosporidi11111 oocysts were repo rted to range from non-detects to thousan ds of parasites per 100 L of finished wate r. The author was invited to visit the facilities in volved and discove red that th e laboratory providing the monitori ng data had signifi cant quality ass uran ce and quality co ntrol problems, maki ng th e protozoan data suspec t. D ata fro m other laboratories ind icated that the o ri ginal reports were in error. ln the author's opinion , reliance o n poor quality m o n itoring data crea ted an international water qua lity crisis w h ere no water qua lity proble ms o r threats to public heal th existed. T here was no de tec ted increase in wa terborn e disease. Based upon this material the auth o r's views are:

1) T here were neve r sign ifi cant levels of Ciarrlia cysts and Cryptosporirli11111 oocysts in the Sydney drin king water supply duri ng th e crisis, 2) A protozoan monitorin g program cannot have clear lin kages to public health and operational decisions.

Th ese views differ from those of th e M cClellan inquiry.

Pitfalls of Pathogen Monitoring Allen and Rice (1994) ha ve reviewed both the technica l, adm.inistrative , and regulatory issues associated with using pathogen monitoring data to make public health decisions.

They concluded that w hile pathogen in form ation has sc ientific value, it is neither possible nor desirable to use pathogen mo nitoring data to protect publ ic health. To protec t public healt h , they suggest that energies be directed toward optim izing wa ter treatment to m in imize risks. T able 1 lists the concerns that would need to be overcome in order to reliably use pathogen monitoring data to predict water quality.

T he problems with the analytical meth ods used for recovery and detectio n of Cryptosporirlimn oocysts and Ciardia cysts in wate r have bee n well docu mented , from sa m ple co llection to microscopic identification. These include losses during samp ling and processing whic h can lead to unde restimation, but also sub-sampl e analysis and i mproper identification w hich can lead to overestimation . Collaborative testi ng of the Information Collection Rule (!C R ) protozoa n method has show n that w hile th e average p ercent recoveries of cysts and oocysts va1ied among studies, the overa ll variability remain ed high (poor prec ision and bias) with false positive and false negative results reported often.

Both inter- and intra-laborato1y variabili ty was hi gh amo ng testing laboratories

which ran protozoa samples daily. T he m ethods are techni cally diffi cult and recoveries are poor, even in expe rt laboratories (Clan cy et al, 1999) .

Publi c h ealth and drinking water professionals agree that information other than laboratoty monitoring data is needed to act in making public health decisions.

A survey by C lancy and Hansen (1999) polled 27 regulato ry agencies and water utilities worldwide to accrue in fo rmation on protozoan monitoring practices. R esults showed that the data are used to study occu rrenc e in so urce wa ters, assess treatment efficiency, and for investment pla nning. Rarely are these data used in making public health decisions, and then only in conj unction with other data weather and watershed changes, treatment info1111ation, other water quality parameters (eg., turbidity) , and presence of disease in t he comm.unity. T he primary reason cited is lack of reliability in the data quality.

In the US , the Centers fo r Disease Co ntrol and Preven tion (CDC) have published "Cryptosporirlium and Water: A Public H ealth H a11rlbook" (1997) to assist loca l communities faced with wa terrelate d C ryptosporirli111n issues. T hese guidelines contain a section on Boil Water

Table 1. Technical an d administrative/regulatory issues associated with pathogen monitoring of drinking water.

Technical Issues

Administ rative/ Regulat ory Issues

Source waters contain high numbers of microorganisms and low numbers of pathogens. Treated waters contain fewer of both.

Regul atory approval of specific methods.

Pathogens are difficult to detect.

Regulatory approval of modifications to methods.

Detection "' viabi lity or infectivity "' public health risk.

Development of resources to administer a pathogen monitoring program.

Sample volumes need to be very large to detect pathogens.

Development and maintenance of a certificat ion manual.

Most water laboratories are unlikely to be equipped or staffed to monitor for all poss ible pathogens.

Certification programs for laboratories and analyst s.

The t ime lag of days or weeks to obtai n definitive results is too long to make timely public health decisions.

Est ablishment of proficiency standards.

Data interpretat ion for appropriate and consistent health decisions. *Adapted from Allen and Rice, 1994.

WATER JANUARY 2001

33

WATER

Alerts (BW A). T he primary criteria recommended to issue or rescind a BW A are not pathogen testing results.

Epidemiological evidence of disease is the primary indicator, fo ll owed by vulnerability of the source to contamination, major changes to source water quality, the effectiveness of treatment, and distribution system integrity. Agencies are caution ed in usin g laboratory test data du e to the inherent limitations in the test methods.

Even under the best of co nditio ns, the problems with Giard/a and Cryptosporidium analysis leave one wary of the reliability of protozoan monitoring data.

The Sydney Wat er Pathogen Crisis The th ree 'events' and their outcomes are well known to Australian readers and well documented (McClellan 1998) 1. 21 J uly-4 August. Routine monitoring showing cou nts in creasing from 2 -3 up to many hundreds per 1OOL of both Giard/a and Cryptosporidi11m . BWA issued 27 Ju ly. Flu s hi ng, etc . conducted, until counts reported negative by 4 August. The NSW Government com mi ssi on ed the M cClellan inquiry.

2. 14 August. Increased coun ts noted, escalating to over 1000/100 L on 24 August and a 13W A iss ued on 27 August. The reporting of increased counts spread to nearly all the systems supplying Sydn ey. By 29 Augu st, nearly all systems reported clear and the BW A was progressively relaxed.

3. 4 September. Finished water from the Prospect WTP was reported at >500 Cryptosporidh11// and >3,500 Giardia/100 L. The BW A was re-issued.

R aw water reported at 10,040 Cryptosporidi11rn and 7,620 Giardia/ 100 L) .

High levels reported in severa l areas in the distri butio n system 11 September. Con tamination found in fini shed water at six separa te filtration pla nts in the Sydney Water system served by three different sources, McClellan questi oned the reliability of the test results.

13 September. Finished water at Prospect WTP re ported low (2 Cryprosporid/11111 and 24 Giardia per 100 L), with a low readin g the following day (2 Cryptosporidium and 7 Giardia per 100 L). The 18 September reading fr o m Pr os p ect WT P was 2 C,yptosporidi11m and ni l Giardia per 100 L and the BW A was lifted.

Throughout these events there was no in crease in cases of diarrhoeal disease. No inc reases in cases of g iardi asis or cryptosporidios is were noted at any time

34

WATER JANUARY 2001

in Sydney despite the fact that informal surveys o f co nsume rs show ed low complian ce (30-70%) with the BW As.

Laboratory Issues Australian Wat er Technologies

The high and repeated levels of cysts and oocysts were fou nd in sa mples proc esse d by Australi an Water Technologies (AWT) En vironme nta l Pathogens Testing Labora tory, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sydney Water. This laboratory used an in-house m ethod fo r protozoa analysis whi ch involved co llection of bulk water samples in 1020 L barrels; polycarbonate track etch membrane filtration in the laboratory; an in - house-developed immunomagnetic separation (IM S) step for som e sa mples based on tu rbidity, fo llowed by flow cytometry; sorting onto a membran e; and ÂŁluorescen t labeling w ith a monoclonal antibody preparation. As part of routine monitoring, the AWT lab began to report hi gh numbers of both cysts and oocysts in the filtered water, leading to the fi rst BW A. Sampling and analysis accelerated to the point w here eight additio nal staff were h ired at AWT in order to process the in creased sample load. The new staff had no expertise in protozoan analyses, and most were new uni versity graduates with minimal laboratory experience.

The rate of sample analysis increased from 10-12 samples per week to over 60 samples per day in the A WT lab. Shifts worked overtime to process the samples, and analysts worked conti nuously with no days off for weeks. AWT notified Sydney

Water that the requ est to analyze samples beyond lab capacity cou ld lead to the generation of poor quality data, and at one point explained that they we re experiencing QC problems. Sydney Water insisted that AWT analyze samples eve n whe n QC was co mpromis ed , and continued to use the data to make public health decisions.

Outside laboratories

As the eve nts escalated, assistance was so ught from other labs within Australia and overseas. Austral ian Water Services, operators of the Prospect WTP, set up a protozoan testing laboratory (the P rospect lab) using experienced personnel from the Suez Lyo n naise des Ea ux C IRSEE protozoan laboratory in Paris. Samples were analyzed at the P rospect lab daily and replicate samples were also sent to the C IRSEE laboratory in Paris and to the aut hor 's l abo r ato r y, Clancy Environmental Consu ltan ts, Inc. (CEC) for independent verificatio n. At various times, samples were analyzed at the U niversity of New South Wales (Dr. JetT)' O ngerth), Macquarie University (Dr. Dun can Veal), Thames Water Utilities Laboratori es in the UK (D r. Colin Fricker), C H Diagnostics and Consulting Services in Loveland, Colo. (M s. Carrie Hancock), and CEC (Dr. Z ia Bukhari).

A va ri ety of analyses were perform ed w hich includ ed: re-reading of slides prepared and read at AWT, re-staining and observati on of slides prepared and read at AWT, analysis of packed pellet material processed at AWT, analysis of replicate bulk water or filter sam ples not

Table 2 . Analytical data comparisons from five laboratories analyzing Sydney drinking water sampl es .

AWT Program

Australian Wat er Services Program Giardla/ 100L

LIMS

Time

0

0

98061826

20:00

11

0

0

<338

98062104

11:00

405

130

0

98062789

14:30

9445

2225

0

0

98068786

17:30

>500

>3500

17:30

0

0

17:30

0

0 1

2

25

30

47

63

Date (1998)

Lab

Time

25Aug

UNSW

21:00

27Aug

UNSW

1:00

Prospect

14:00

0

0

UNSW

14:30

0

CEC

17:30

Prospect CIRSEE

4 Sept

Crypto/ 10 0L

Re-readb 9 Sept 10Sept

CIRSEE Prospect

8:40 8 :40

0 0

0 0

98069852

8:00

CEC

9:45

0

0

9807299

9:15

Prospect

9:45

0

0

Crypto/ 100L

Giardia/ 100L

a A single fluorescing object was observed and was thought to be an alga, but cou ld not

be confirmed so the default was to identify it as a cyst. b Results when this AWT slide with >500 oocysts and >3500 cysts was re-read by a qualified analyst.

WATER

previously processed. Table 2 presents comparison data from som e of the consecutive or replicate samples analyzed by five laboratories, showing that AWT had co nsisten tly over-esti111ated .

Analysis of Sydney Water samples was chall enging due to the presence in many sa111ples o f algae that m imi cked both oocysts and cysts. These algae were prese nt in both raw and finished water samples and all lab oratories involved reported the ir presence. T hese algae were recove red afte r two steps designed to be specific for cysts and oocysts, the IMS and monoclona l antibody staining steps. Th e on ly way to positively iden tify these mimics is through the use of Nomarski-differential interference contrast (D IC) microscopy at 1000 X magnification. The AW T laboratory did not have DI C or 100 X obj ective lenses.

Ide ntifi catio n of cysts and oocysts was do ne using fluorescence microscopy alon e at 400 X magnification , w hich is inadequate for protozoan ide ntifi ca tion 111 e nviro nme ntal samples.

AWT Laboratory Audit The author was contracted to conduct an audit of the A WT En vironme ntal Pathoge ns Testing Laboratory on 25-29 September (after the even ts had subsided).

T he first day was devo ted to rev iew ing records in cluding quaJfry assurance/ quality co ntrol (QA / QC) rec ords, standard operating procedures (SO Ps), laboratory be n ch shee ts, laboratory manuals, and equ ipment mainte nance reco rds. The sec o nd day was spe nt obse rving the laboratory staff conduct each aspect of the protozoan analytical procedure; the third day was spe nt with the Fi eld Services Group o n a sa111ple collection ru n . The 184- page audit report (Clancy, 1998 b) is very bri efly summarised as fo ll ows: Record keeping

T he review of the QA/ QC reco rds ind icated a numb er of serious irregularities in the o ve rall laborato ry operation.

The most seri ous of th ese was the la ck of atte ntion to QC data that indicated analytical fai lu res. T o determi ne if the increased workload was the sole reason for these QC fa ilures, records prior to the events were exam ined and quality control fail ures were noted. A spot check of the reco rds fo und 12 samples that were Q C failures with no response by managem ent.

The incide nces of QC failures i ncreased signi fi cantly as the workload in creased during th e eve nts. There were no written protocols and relian ce on analyst m emory was used for critical procedures suc h as oocyst stock preparation. Sample tracking

labels were found applied to the incorrect data sheets. Standard operating procedures were fo und to be missing o r incomplete and some existing SOPs did not correspo nd to laborato ry prac tices. There were no records of reagent preparation and inco mplete labeling of reagent bottles was evident. T he me thods used for protozoan analysis were experimental (non-standard) with no me thod validation data available.

Laboratory skills and operations

A number of proble111s in the analytical procedures were observed. Analysts with littl e or poor training were seen contami na t ing eq u i pm e nt during sa mple processing at all steps. Ineffective cleaning protocols led to high po te ntial for crossover contamination between samples.

Analysts-in-training carried ou t criti cal steps suc h as flow cyto metry and reading sample slides.

Interi m reports were discussed with the senior personnel of Sydn ey Water, recommending that "data from the laboratory should not be used to make public hea lth decisions un til all deficiencies are corrected and data quality can be assured " T he fin al audit report concluded: " ... the defic iencies .. . cast doubt on the reliability of data produced by this laboratory both prior to and during the period of the contam.ination events. " T he third M cl ellan R eport (October) q uotes - "AWT has provided m e with a detailed subm ission w hich defe nds the quality of its work.

Although I understand the extraordinary burde ns the laboratory was req uired to carry, I accept the auditor's findings. The work don e to check AWT's results at overseas laboratories, although con firming some results, cast doubt over many others" However he "was satisfi ed that during the First Event both oocysts and cysts were present in drinking waters at levels of public health concern " . T his author does not doubt that experts were able to positi vely ide ntify cysts and oocysts in these slides. T he question raised is the source of these cysts and oocysts given that the lab was in QC fa ilure. The opportunity for cross-contamination of samples (from raw wa te r sa mples sh own to con tain Giardia and Cryptosporidium or positive control mate rial) was nearly impossibl e to avoid u nde r the co nditio ns in which th e lab was operating. The expert team did no t va lidate the integrity of the e ntire process from sample collec tion th rough analysis; they reviewed a few slides and observed cysts and oocysts. This lack o f attention to th e equally important aspects of sample handling and processing allowed the incident to continu e for weeks.

WATER JANUARY 2001

35

WATER

This is o ne point on which the au thor and M cClellan disagree. If a lab suffers QC failure as A WT did, one cannot pick and choose data points that might be correct and rely o n them. to assess water quality. The data produced by AWT were unreliable prior to and during the events.

N o rationalization can be m ade that any of these data are acceptable under these conditions.

Is Monitoring Valid?

In hi s F inal R.e port McClellan concluded "a m o nitorin g program should have clear linkages to public health and o perational decisions." To this end, he recommended "the establishment of a qualified independent laborat01y to provide accurate data for health and regulat01y authorities". Th ese recommendations support the use of monitoring data for public health decision-making in Australia.

This is contrary to cu rrent po licy and practice worldwide (Allen & Rice, 1994 and C lancy & H ansen , 1999) . Whi le the regulato ry an d admin istrati ve issues associated with pathogen monitoring ca n be addressed, the techni cal issues arc fa r from resolved. Even a laboratory w hic h is well operated with hig hly experie nced analysts still must use subjectivity w hen identifying cysts and oocysts in environmental samples. The ri s k of mis-identifi cati on arises from the lim itati o n s in the m et hodol ogy. The ide ntification of cysts and oocysts in environmental samples rema ins more an art form than science, and ca n best be described as qual ified guesswork. The auth o r agrees w ith those scie ntists w ho caution t hat there is presently no way to set an acceptable leve l of protozoa in drinking water w hich refl ects risk Until molecular techniques with high specificity become available, mis- ide nti fi cation will contin ue to be an issue. For these reasons, protozoan m onitoring data can not be re li ed upon as indicators of public hea lth.

Conclusions If protozoan monitorin g data detect cysts or oocysts in the drinking water and consu mers are not notified and no action is taken AND an outb reak occurs, the utility cou ld be seen to be negl igen t and could be held li able for d amages in spite of all of the uncerta inties su rrounding these data. If monitoring data are used to initiate BW As, the number ofBWAs w ill in crease, and public confidence in the safety of the water supply will be lost.

However, as monitoring pro g ra m s increase and m e thods improve, findin g cysts and oocysts (or objects mimi cking

36

WATER JANUARY 2001

The Author

them convincingly) in tap wate r w ill increase. Water suppliers, regulators, and pub.lie health officials need to be fully aware of these issues and be well prepared to deal w ith the potential pitfalls of a protozoan monitoring program .

T here are lessons still not learned.

Given the enorm ity of the techn ical and ad ministrative issues associated wi th protozoan and other pathogen m o nitoring, and the experien ce fro m the ill-fated ICR and Sydney crisis, the drinking water commu nity and t he regulatory and health agencies need to abandon any thought of monitoring as a pretense for protecting public health.

Water suppl y professionals must embrace waters h ed pr o t ectio n , pr ocess optimization, and ensuring the integrity of the distribution system as the strategy for public health protection. The USEPA and other national regulatory agencies need to go on record stating that pathogen monitoring is not a practical o pti o n fo r predicting water quality.

These agencies need to clearly state that they w ill not consider impl em enting monitoring programs for these purposes but w ill focus resourc es on process optim izatio n and monitoring of these processes fo r m icrobial contro l.

Dr. Jennifer L. Clancy is President of C lancy Environmental Consultants, Inc. with a long experie nce in microbio logy and water treatment. Phone: 1 802-527- 2460 FAX: 1 802-524-3909 Email: jclancy@together.net

References Allen M J & Rice E W (1994). Pathogen Monitoring - ls this the road to travel? Proc.

A WW A WQTC, San Francisco, Nov . 610.

Centers for D isease Contro l and Prevent ion , (1997) Working Group on Waterborne Cryptosporid ios is. Cryprosporidi11111 and Water: A Public Health H andbook Atlanta, GA. Clancy J L ('! 998b) Audit report of the Austra l ian Wat e r Technologies Environmental P at h ogens Testing Laboratory. ( 15 October) .

Clancy J L er al. (1999) USEPA Method 1622 for Cryptosporidi11111 in Wate r. Jour. A WW A , 91 :9 :60-67 .

Clancy J L & Hansen J (1999) . Protozoan monitoring practices: how are the data used?

Jour. AWWA, 91 :5:51.

McClellan I' ( 1998) Sydney Water Inqui,y. Final R eport 1Sl3N: 0 7313 30763 0. Copyright NSW Premie r 's Department.

(See also : Allen M.J, Clancy J L &. Rice E W (2000) The plain, hard truth about pathogen monitoring. J . A WW A 92 (9) 6 4- 76).

.. .•.•...•

., •:~...

~i::~,.. Fisher Stewart ~.~

Environmental and Water Industry Specialists • • • • •

asset management water and wastewater technology risk management infrastructure planning NOTE NEW ADDRESS Head Office strategic partnership 71 Queens Road

Melbourne VIC 3004 Tel +61 3 8517 9200 Fax +61 3 8517 9211

Contact: Andrew Osborne or Peter Everist

client. focus

I outstanding

people

I

www.fisherstewart.com .au

intelligent solutions

.

WATER

THE 1998 SYDNEY WATER CRISIS - AN ALTERNATIVE POINT OF VIEW P Hawkins The v iew that the Sydney Wate r Crisis of 1998 was e ntirely a resu lt of laboratory erro r has been repea te dly pu b lish ed (Alle n et al (2000), C lancy (2000) (and the sum m ary of t he latter in th is iss ue).

H owever, m an y of the water syste111 111anagers, expe rt scien tifi c consultants and labo rator y staff at the centre of the c risis rema in con vinced it was rea l.

Dr C lan cy's audit, w h ich fo rms the basis of her su bsequen t publications, co ntains some e rrors of fact. For exa111ple, Dr C lancy mi sread the A WT's laboratory o n-going oo/cyst recover y standard as be in g 50% recover y of seed ed cysts and oocysts in pos iti ve con t rols. This was the trainin g requ irement for new tec hni cians.

N o laborator y in the world wou ld set the ir routine Q C crite ri o n th is hig h . Y et th is is a key c lem en t in her assessme nt of the laboratory be ing in "QC failure".

W e also be li eve she exaggerates the importan ce of minor QC fi ndings to substantiate her clai111 that the laboratory was in such a dire state that t he analytical resu lts could not be used as a bas is fo r m aking p u bli c h eal t h d ecisions. For example, of 123 negat ive control sampl es processed during th e C risis, o nl y 3 gave positive resu lts and these were at the level of a sing le cyst or oocyst eac h. In su ch a crisis w here rapid turnaround t im e was paramount and decisions were being made on th e basis of sampl es c onta in ing hundreds o r thousands o f oo/ cysts, thi s was not considered suffi c ie nt to sto p the analytica l process.

Th e re is co mpe ll ing evid e nce already ava il able from the p ubli c record to su pport t h e co n c lu s ion that Cryµtosµori di11111 and Cinrdin were present in Sydney's bu lk water su pply and the fin i sh ed wate r di str ibuti o n system, in cludi ng: • A rotation of experienced sta ff fro m at least three different organ isations identified the paras ites u nd er the mi croscope .

• The measured ingress of Cryptosporidi11111 oocysts and Cinrdin cysts into t he bu lk water suppl y repeatedl y co in cide d with the abstraction o f contaminated flood wat e rs at t he maj o r reservo ir o fftak e.

• A

ma ss balan ce o f the re p orted

Cryprosporidi11111 oocyst loads across the affected syste m showed that the load of oocysts enteri n g the system su bstantiall y balan ced that exitin g the syste 111 at the extrem ities. This stro n gly su ppo rts the conte ntio n that the laboratory was consisten tly identify in g the oocysts correc tly.

• The suggestio n that the counts were th e result of cross-co ntamination in t he A WT laborator y are co un te red b y: 1. th e acc urate correlation of the labo ratory Cryptosporidi11111 oocysts and Cinrdin read ings with the p ulses of flood waters into the bu lk water suppl y, 2. the mass balan ce resu lt, and

3. The experience of m anagers at the tim e th at lab o rato r y res u lts we re accu ratel y predi cting the 111ove111ent of contaminated water through the distri bution network (Qu ill , 2000) Mr Pete r M cC le llan, Q C, chaired th e state g o ver nmen t Inqu iry on t h is 111atter.

H is repo rts show he we ig hed the man y conflicting argum en ts pu t before him on a vari ety of issues. C lea rly m any par ties had stro ng self- in terest to p rotect and submi ssions were ofte n diametricall y opposed. M cC lellan sifted a!J t he available evi d e nce, noting the concu rren t implication s of m ul tiple differe nt so u rces of data, and made d ec isio ns based on the over w helmin g weigh t of evide nce. On m atters w here no cl ear d ec ision co uld be made , M cC lellan si111 ply stated that he cou ld not d ecid e betwee n the argumen ts.

H is final report (1998) reta in s hi s concl usio n that, at least for the fi rst two E vents in th e C risis, the eviden ce is compe ll ing that the A WT laboratory m easurements of Cryptosporidi11111 and Cinrdin levels were a reasonable portrayal of the real situation .

In response to Dr C lancy's publication s, A WT has prepared a m o re detailed accou nt of t he arg u me nts li sted above, w hich is now being fi nalised for publication in a pee r-reviewed journal.

We believe that Dr C lancy's d iscussion o f t he releva nce of pathogen mon itorin g in water suppl.ies to p u blic health decision-

maki ng include m an y valid assertions and p romote debate. H oweve r, w e stro ng ly disagree w ith her depict ion of the Sydney Co n tamination Crisis as a laborato ry arte fa ct.

W e acknowled ge that the re we re qual ity co ntrol issues in t he labo rato r y durin g th e 1998 C risis. Nevertheless, we asse rt that a du ly di ligent respo nse was m ad e by the laborator y, having regard to the demands of the regu lator and the cli ent for in fo rmatio n required to manage the distribu ti o n system during a criti cal peri od.

References Allen M J. Clancy J L, Rice E W(2000) The plai n. hard truth about pathogen monitoring.

Jo11r11al ~{rlw l l111c1irm1 Wmcr Works Assoria1icm; 92 (9) :64-76.

C lancy J L. Sydney's 1998 water quality crisis.

(2000) ) 011mal ~{ lice A 111crira11 Water Worl.,; A ssorimio11; 92(3):55-66.

M cClellan P, Commissioner ( 1998) Sydney Water Inqu iry, Final R.eport Volume 2.

Sy dn ey, Austra li a: NSW P remier 's Depart111 em , Final R eport. (Sydney Water Inquiry l~eports: http :/ / www.pre111iers.11sw. go v.au and follow links to Publications, th e nce co Sydney Water Inquiry).

Quill R . (2000) Sydney water crisis spurs more debate !letter to the cdicorJ. ) 011mal c!f rice A111ericn11 Waler Works l lssorimio11; 92 ( I I):18-9.

The Authors T h is re b u ttal has been drafted by t he senior personnel o f Australian Water Tech nologies, En vironment Sc ience & Technol ogy, PO B ox 73, W est R yd e NSW 2 l 14 A u st ralia : Peter Cox , Princ ipal Consultant, Peter Hawkins, Prin cipa l C onsultant, (Correspond ing au thor: T e lepho n e: 61 2 9334 0904.

Email: Pete r. H aw k ins@awtpl.com.au) , Ian Fisher, Prin cipal Sc ientist, George Kastl , Se ni or Che mi ca l Eng in eer, Veeriah Jegatheesan, E n vironmenta l Scient is t , Malcolm Warnecke , Environmental Scientist, Mark Angles, Labo rato1y M anager & C o nsul tant, Heri Bustamante, Principal Consultant, Tony Chiffings, In novation, R esea rc h & D evelopm e nt M anager.

WATER JANUARY 2001

37

m

WATER

GENOTYPES OF CRYPTOSPORIDIUM IN SYDNEY'S CATCHMENTS P Hawkins, P Swanson and U Morgan Abstract I nten s i ve mon it or i n g for Cryptosporidiu,n in source waters has been ongoing in Sydney since the Sydney Water Crisis in August 1998. Three separate Cryptosporidium contamination 'events' have been detected in the water supply ca tchments since the Crisis.

Duplicate water samples fro m these events were analysed for Cryptosporidi1-1111 by immuno-fluorescence assay (!FA ), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and malachite green . The PCR techn iqu e confim1ed the presence of Cryptosporidi11m p11rv11111 in more than 70% of the samples that tested positive by !FA. C. p11wu111 type lI or 'cattle' genotype was the only C ryptosporidi11m strain identified by PCR. Thi s s tudy demonstra t e d t hat combining the quantification afforded by the IFA method and the genetic specificity fr om PC R analys is assists in understanding both the public health risk and the source of Cryptosporidi11111 in drinking water supplies.

An apparent lack of se nsitivity in the PCR analysis compared to IFA may be related to storage time before P C R analysis and warrants furth er attention .

Keywords: Cryptosporidi11111, cattle genotype, water supply ca tchments

Introduction High levels o f Cryptosporidi11m oocysts and C iardia cysts (oo/cysts) were detected in the filtered and raw water supply of the city of Sydney Australia, between July and August 1998. During this period three city-wide 'boil water' notices were issued , affecting more than 2 million consumers.

One co nsequence of this conta mination was an extensive surveillance mon it0ring program of th e city's raw water sources fo r Cryptosporidium and Ci11rdi11. The resul ts from this program have provided a detailed desc ription of the dynamics of Cryptosporidi11m and Ciardi11 oo /cys cs in natural waters (Ha wkins et 11/ 2000).

38

WATER JANUARY 2001

T h e env ir o nm e nt a l s t age of Cryptosporidiu111 can be widespread, as the o o cysts can persist for weeks to months and are spread in animal faeces. The progressive improve ment in detection methods fo r this protozoan in water h as contributed to a realisation of its ubiquitous o ccurrence, even in pristine watersheds (Mager, Standridge, Kluender, and Peterson, 1998) .

The occurrence of Cryptosporidi11111 in drinkin g w ater supplies is a publi c health concern because of the low infective dose and th e resistan ce of the oocysc co chlorine disinfection (DuPont et 11/, 1995). The viability and human in feccivity of Cryptosporidi11111 oocysts are important indicators of the public h ealth risk.

T here are currentl y up to 9 valid named species of Cryptosporidil1 111. These include C. p11n111m id entifi ed from humans and many mammals, C. 11111ris fr o m rodents; C. 11nderso11 i fr om ruminants, C. fel is from cats, C. wrairi from guinea pigs, C. mele11gridis and C. b11ileyi from birds, C. serpentis and C. s1111rophili111 from reptiles, and C. 1111son1111 from fish (O'Donoghue, 1995, Fayer et 11/. 1997, Lindsay et 11/, 2000) . There is now strong evidence that the most widely studied species; C. p11rvum, is not a uniform spe ci es b ut co nsists of numerous distinct genotypes (cf M organ et 11/. 1999, Xiao et 11/. 1999). To date, 7 distinct genotypes have been identified within what is currently recognised as C. p11rv11111. Only two of these appear co be readily in fec tious to immuno-competent humans: th e ' human' genotype, fo und only in humans and the 'ca ttle' genotype which is found in livestock (cattl e, sheep and goats) and also humans. Five ocher ap pare ntly h ost -sp ec ifi c C. p11nm111 geno types have been identified, namely 'pig', 'marsupial' , 'mouse', 'ferret' , and n1.ore rece ntly 'dog' genotypes (c f.

Mo rgan el al. 1999, Xiao et 11/. 1999) .

While these genotypes have not been id e ntifi e d in immuno- com p e ce nt huma ns, recent evidence has shown that immuno-compromised indi vidu als are

su sce ptibl e to a w id e ran ge of Cryptosporidi,1111 genotypes and spec ies (Pi eniazek et al. 1999; Morgan et al.

2000).

Genotypi ng can be useful in identifying the so urce of Cryptosporidi11m oocyscs in the raw water and in assessing the public health risk, if oocysts p enetrate treatment barriers and enter the reticulated supply. T his paper desc ribes results of genotype analyses condu cted during Public H ealth surveillance of the source waters between D ecember 1998 and June 1999, by Sydney W ater Corporation.

Sample locations and methods The locations of m onitoring sites used in the public hea lth surveillance program are ill ustrated in Figure 1. The sa mples were fro m catchment streams (2) lakes (10) and the bulk supply (3) wh ich provid e raw water for th e Sydney supply.

The samples were collected during th~ee co ntamination 'eve nts' that were associated with inflows tO the reservoirs between D ecember 1998 and April 1999 (Hawkins et 11/ 2000). Th ese inflows were relatively smalJ in scale. The maximum flow was 10 percent of the inflow s prior co th e Sydney Cry pto sp oridi11111 In cid ent in 1998 (McClellan P, 1998) .

The Cryptosporidi1m1 enumerati on by IFA was performed at the AWT laborat0ries at W est R.yde, NSW. The m ethods used to collect and ana lyse the water are described by H awkins et al (2000). Briefly a measured volume (usually 20L) was filt e red by the flat bed method. lmmunomagnetic separation (Ausflow) and flow cytometry procedures were used to sore and co ncentrate oocysts from o ther d etritu s in t he water. T h e Cryptosporidi11,n oocysts were labelled using specific antibodies conjugated to fluoresce in isothiocya nate (F JTC) fo r immunofluorescent assay (!FA) (Panbioâ&#x201E;˘ mou se antibodies). A co nfirmato ry staining pro cedure used DAP I (4'6diamidino- ph en ylindol e) (Campbell, R obertson, and Smith, 1992) and th e

WATER

e nti re pelle t was enumerated microscopically .

Sample preparation

procedu re (M o rgan et al.

1997). Positi ve and negative controls were included for each test. PC R inhibition w as c hec ke d by amplifica ti on o f a duplicate sample spiked w ith Cryptosporidi1-1111 DNA. Neste d P C R assays w e re used at all loc i, w ith high numbers o f amplifica ti o n cyc les to inc rease se nsitivity .

All wa te r samples we re analysed by I FA within 3-4 days of co llectio n . Th e duplic at es we r e h e ld i n 2 0 L polye thylene drums at 4°C before submission for P C R. Those wate r samples in w hic h Cryptosporidi,1111 was detec te d by ! FA were conce ntrate d by Results and Discussion flat be d fil tratio n, spun down and th e pelle t was resuspe nded Spatial Distribution of in 50ml of PBS. These pelJ ets Cryptosporidium Genotypes pro vide d the basis for th e PCR test of Cryptosporidi11111 Th e s ur vey of DNA (Tabl e 1). Th e sampl es Cryplosporidi11111 genotypes in co llec ted in D ece mbe r ·1998 the catchme nt was restric ted w e re he ld for 50 da ys befor e to wate r sa mples coll ected CATCHMEIIT AREAS submission. All o th er samples from streams and lakes in W1rragamba w e re he ld for 7-28 days.

Sydn ey's main w ater suppl y Upper Neptan T e n pe ll e ts re p rese nte d ca tc hm e nts, during a pe riod MONITORING SITES o f relati vely low h yd rologic singl e sites. In April, composite • Catchment • Bulk Supply flows. Only th e 'ca ttle' o r pellets (5) w e re also prepare d A Lakes to in crease th e scope o f the type ll C. paiv11111 gen otype gen otype survey . Composites w as detected. This genotype KILOMETRES SCALE were prepared by co mbin i ng was found durin g ea c h p e ll e ts o f wate r sa mpl es Figure 1 . The Warragamba and Nepean water supply c ontamination eve nt and in both the main w ate r ca tchco ll e cted at adjace nt sites on catchments with Stream, Lake and Bulk Supply sample ments (Tabl e 1) . o ne day or fro m a sin gle site sites marked. during an event . Th e original Cryptosporidi11111 in humans pelle ts w ere resuspe nde d in 50ml PBS. one d rop o f th e water conce ntrates appears to be predomin antl y transmitted E qui val e nt a li qu o t vo l um es we r e co ll ec ted from the surfa ce of the pe lle t throu gh person to perso n co ntact, w hich co mbin ed to make a co mposite 50 m L (abo ut 25% o f th e pell et). Slides w e re is wh y the ' human ' genotype is most volum e. Thus th e composite sample from examin ed for Cryp1osporidi11111 oocysts common in people . The 'cattle' ge notype sites w ithin the C o xs Arm in Lake under 40 x and I 00 x obj ectives . Afte r is co mmo nly found in ruminant animal s l3urragorang betwee n 18-21 April 1999, microscopic inspection, the pellet material and has been ide ntifi ed from ca ttle, sheep (s ample nu mbe r 12 , T ab le 1) was was re co vered and included in t he P C R and goa ts w orld- wide. pre pared fro m seve n separate sa mples analysis.

Human vo lunteer infecti vity studies coll ected at sites w ithin the Coxs Arm usin g the cattle genotyp e indicate it is PCR methods for Genotyping during that period. equally in fec tiou s to h umans (DuPont el The PC R. ana lyses w ere made at th e T he ! FA analysis reported o o cys ts as al. 1995). Furth er evide nce o f th e infecDivision o f Ve te ri nary and Di o medi cal FITC and DAPl stained. Th e numbe r of tivity of the cattl e geno type to humans Sc ien ces, Murdoch University, W es te rn DAP I staine d oocysts w as used as the comes from a study of human faecal Australia. Wate r sampl es were scree ned es timate o f oo cysts in the P C R test for samples from the Perth M etropolitan area. for Cryplosporidi11111 DNA at 4 loci; (1) 18S C ryptosporidi11111 DNA. Th e reco very In that survey, 36/ 5"11 sa m ples were rDNA (M o rga n el al. 1997), (2) Acetyl effi ciency of th e IMS extrac tio n used in positi ve fo r Cryplosporidi11111 . Of these, 30 C oA synthetase genes (Morgan et al. bo th the !FA and P C R me thods was we r e ' human ' g e n o t y p e a nd t h e 1998a); (3) an unidentified ge nomic assumed to be similar (30-60%). Each re maini ng 6 (approx. 17%) were ' cattle' fragm ent (Morga n el al. 1997) and; (4) sample pair was assumed to have identical ge notype (M organ et al. 19986). th e heat-shock ge ne (H SP-70) (Xiao et DAP I stain ed ooc yst content and th e T h ere are nin e lice n se d Sew age al. unpublished) . Th e PC R tec hni que oocysts were assum ed to split proporTreatment Plants in the wate r suppl y co mpl em ents the qu an tifi cation of !FA tionall y betwee n aliqu ots. catc hme nts that supply Sydn ey . During by amplifying specific ge netic seque nces th e study period the re was no ev idence Malachite green microscopy o f th e C ryptosporidi11111 DNA if it is that the 'human ' (type I) genotyp e o f present. Th ese sequ ences ca n characterise Th e m aterial for P C R was first Cryptosporidi11111 likely to be sourced Cryprosporidi11111 by spec ies and by strain. sc reene d for oocysts using a nega ti ve fro m these pl ants w as present in river o r Malachite Green (MG) staining technique Samples w ere pu ri fie d for DNA lake wa ter. Lo w con centrati ons of othe r (Elliot el al. 1999) . Briefl y, w ater concenan a l ys i s u s in g immun o m ag n e t i c geno types may have bee n masked by trates w ere spun at 800 x g for 5 min and se p a ration (D ynab e ads) . DNA was T ype IT in sa mples w ith a high oocyst the su p ern atant rem oved . A d rop o f 5% extracted fro m purified pe lle ts using a content. H owever, mi xed genotypes malachite green in distilled wate r was glassmilk procedure, elu ted in 20 ~d of usua ll y result in mi xe d seq u e nc ing the n p laced on a slide and mixed w ith elution buffer. 2 pl w as used in each P C R. ch ro matograms, wh ich are easil y recogWATER JANUARY 2001

39

WATER

Table 1. Comparison of results from different methods for detecting Cryptosporidium. Samples were water concentrates co llected during three separate Cryptosporidium 'events' in Sydney's water supply catchments.

Date

Event Sample Sample No Site

A

B

C

** "# np

December-98 15-Dec-98 15-Dec-98 16-Dec-98 16-Dec-98 16-Dec-98

1-5 1 2 3 4 5

Lake Lake Lake Lake Lake

6-7 6 7

Lake Burragorang Dam Wall Lake Burragorang Dam Wall

8-15 8 9# 10* * 11 12 13 14 15

Apri l-99 13-Apr-99 Blue Mts 15-Apr-99 Coxs River 17-Apr-99 Prospect WFP Upper Canal (Nepean catchment) 18-20 Apr 99 18-21 Apr 99 Lake Burragorang Coxs Arm 19-20 Apr 99 Lake Burragorang mid Lake 1 7-23 Apr Lake Burragorang Dam Wall 25-Apr-99 Werri berri Ck Inflow

Burragorang Burragorang Burragorang Burragorang Burragorang

Dam Dam Dam Dam Dam

Wall Wall Wall Wall Wall

February-99 15-Feb-99 17-Feb-99

elapsed time (d)

Sample pool size

Oocysts

by FITC

Oocysts

by DAPI

Genotype

by PCR

Oocysts by Malachite Green

49 49 48 48 48

1 1 1 1 1

74 53 64 55 67

40 42 19 43 49

np cattle np cattle np

absent present absent absent absent

9 7

1 1

1032 104

464 104

cattle cattle

absent absent

31 29 27 26 26 25 27 19

3 1 1 2 7 2 8 1

1 61 162 17 >9 207 90 101 120

23 3# 8 >3 63 25 31 54

cattle cattle np cattle cattle cattle cattle cattle

absent absent absent present present present absent absent

Prospect WFP is a mixture of Warragamba pipeline and Upper Canal water probably more than 3 DAPI oocysts present, as the low ratio of DAPI :FITC in sample 9 was inconsistent with the ratio in samples 12 and 13 " predicted to derive from the same source no PCR product

elapsed time is the time between sample collection and the PCR and Malachite green analysis

nised. In addition, o ne o f the primer sets was specifically designed to detect mixed infectio ns.

The infectivity of the C. parimm cattle genotype to humans and the occurrence o f this genotype in Sydney's catchment water-ways, emphasises the potential public health risk fr om zoono tic rese rvoirs of the cattle genotype to potabl e water supplies.

Fu tu re surveys to determine the prevalence an d the distribution of other Cryptosporidium genotypes in Sydney's catchments should target representative sou rces of faecal contamination to water ways throughout the catchment and focus sampling effo rt in rivers and lakes during and after high volum e flow events.

Comparative sensitivity of IFA and PCR

Flow cytom etry (IFA) detected F!TC and DAPI stained Cryptosporidium oocysts in 15/ 15 samples (T able 1). IFA was the m ost sensitive method and quantified the oocyst conten t of each sample. PCR was slightly less se nsitive. This m ethod detected C. parim m in 11 / 15 samples.

PCR was non quantitative but provided information on the genetic specifi city of the oocysts. The malachite green method was least sensitive. Oocysts were observed in 4/ 15 samples .

The contaminatio n even t in mid D ecember 1998 was represented by five samples (Table 1: Event A numbers 1-

40

WATER JANUARY 2001

5), collec ted o ver a two day perio d near the Dam W all in Lake Burragoran g.

T hese samples all had similar oocyst content b y !FA. T he m ean oo cyst content was 63(9 FITC; 39 (11 DAPI. Cryptosporidil-11n was detected in two of these fi ve samples by PC R (sa mple numbers 2 and 4).

T he Malachite Green m ethod detected o o cysts in only fo ur sam ples (Numbers 2 and 11 - 13 in Table 1). In each case these oo cysts were confirmed as C. parvum by PCR. T he lower sensitivity of malac hite green is due to lack o f amplifi c at i o n (c f. P C R ) or co mpl e t e enumeratio n of the sample (if IFA).

Th e !FA ' best estim ate' o f oocyst abundance in sa mple 1 l was ~ 3. Only o ne of the two samples used to prepare this composite was analysed by IFA. Th e r e for e th e t o tal numb e r o f Cryptosporidium oocysts present in sample 11 was probably underestimated.

The se nsitivity o f the PCR analysis appeared to be affec ted by storage time.

The detec tion level was lo w est in the samples from Event A that were stored for 50 days between collectio n o f these samples and submission for PCR. In three of these five samples, PCR did no t amplify Cryptosporidium DNA, alth o ugh up to 49 DAP I stained oocysts were detected by the IFA analysis.

The samples collected durin g events B and C were held fo r shorter intervals

before PC R analysis than event A and the sensitivity of the PC R appeared to improve. T he PC R ampli fication failed in only o ne of ten sampl es fro m even ts B and C. That sample (10) had 8 DAPI stained oocysts. The two samples with the lowest C ryptosporid/11111 content (Sampl es 9 and 11 , 3 DAPI o o cysts) may have underestimated the actual oocyst content.

T he lower sensitivity of P C R an alysis compared to TFA could ha ve been caused by two o ther effects: â&#x20AC;˘ Samples which were known to contain Cryptosporidium by !FA / DAPI w ere analysed by PC R.. If all water sampl es w ere tested by both methods, one might find some whi ch were positive by PC R but negative by IFA.. As the analyses were made o n duplicate samples, uneven distribution of oocysts between duplicates could significantly effect the sensitivity o f PCR at low oocyst concentrations. â&#x20AC;˘ Subsam plin g o f the DNA extract to permit analysis at several loci and to provide an inhibition blank, may reduce the sensitivity o f P CR. Th e di sc re p a n cy b e tw ee n t h e detec tio n limit o f IFA and PC R. in this study appeared to be linked to prolonged storage. This warrants further atten tion.

These results do sh ow that the quantificatio n afford ed by IFA combin ed with the genetic specificity from P C R can provide an indi catio n of th e so urce of th e co ntamination and the magnitud e

ATER

of the public health risk from Cryptosporidiu111 in d1inking water supplies.

Future efforts to improve detection of C1yptosporidi11111 in the environment could optimise the IFA method by including PCR as a final step immediately after enumeration of the IFA objects.

Acknowledgements The monitoring and genotype data reported here arose from public health monitoring programs conducted by the Sydney Catchment Authority and Sydney Water Corporation. The authors are grateful to both organisations for permission to publish these data. The views expressed arc those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Sydney Water or the Sydney Catchment Authority. Malcolm Warnecke, Michelle Cunningham and William Wolf provided invaluable advice and assistance in preparing the samples for analysis. Thanks to Daniel Deere, Duncan V cal and Martha Sinclair for reviewing the manuscript.

Authors Peter Hawkins and Peter Swanson are both from Australian Water Technologies, Sydney 51 Hermitage Rd, West Ryde, NSW 2114, Australia Phone 61 2 93340904.

Email: Peter.Hawkins@awtpl.com.au.

Una Morgan is from the Division of Veterinary and Biomedical Science, Murdoch University.

of Sydney's Water Contamination Incident.

Aqua. 45, 289-.

7. Lindsay D S, Upton SJ, Owens OS, Morgan UM, Mead J R. and l3lagburn 13 L (2000).

Ciwrospon'di11111 m1dcrso11i n. sp. (Apicomplcxa: Cryptosporiidae) from Cattle, B()s /(11/mS. Journal ofEukaryotic Microbiology. 47, 9195 8. Mager AL, Standridge J, Kluender SM and Peterson L L 1998). Source and occurrence of pathogens in watersheds. Source Water Protection Symposium; l 998 Oct; California.

AWWAR.F. 9. McClellan P. (1998). Sydney Water Enquiry, Final Report Volume 2. Sydney, Australia: NSW Premier's Department. !O. Morgan U M, Pallant L, Dwyer B W, Forbes D A, Rich G, Thompson R. C A (1998): Comparison of PCR. and Microscopy for detection of Cryptosporidium in human focal samples: Clinical trial. J Clin Microbial 36, 995-998.

11. Moq,,r.111 U M, Xiao L, Fayt·r R., Lal A A and Thompson R. CA (1999). Variation in Cryptosporidium: Towards a taxonomic revision of the genus. lutmwtimwljo111ual cif Pamsitofogy. 29, 1733-1751.

12. Morgan U M, Sargent K D, Dep!azes P, Forbes I) A, Spano F, Hertzberg H, Elliot A. and Thompson RCA (1998a). Molecular

Characterisation of Cryplosporidimn from various hosts. Pamsirolo,(!y. 117, 31-37.

13. Morgan U M, Constantine C C, Forbes D A and Thompson R. C A (1997).

Differentiation between human and animal isolates of Cryptosporidi11111 pan,11111 using rDNA Sequencing and direct PCR analysis.

Jo11mal of Parasirolo,!!)', 83, 825-830. !4. Morgan UM, Weber R, Xiao L, Sulaiman I, Thompson R. C A, Ndirim W, Lal A A, Moore A. and Dep!azes P. (2000). Molecular characterisation of Cryptosp11ridi11111 isolatt.=s obtained from HIV-infected individuals living in Switzerland, Kenya and the USA. Jounwl ef Cli11iml MicrtJbiofogy. 38, l 180-1183.

15. O'Donoghue PJ. (1995) Cryptosporidit1111 and cryptosporidiosis in man and animals. Int J Parasitol 25, 139-195. !6. Pieniazck N J, Bornay-Llinares F J, Slemenda S 13, da Silva A J, Moura I N, Arrowood M J, Ditrich 0, Addiss D G ( 1999). New Cr)lp/()sporidi11111 genotypes in HIV-infected persons Emerg Infect Dis 5, 444-449.

17. Xiao L, Morgan UM, Limor J, Escalante A, Arrowood M, Schulaw W, Thompson RCA, Fayer R, Lal AA ( ! 999) Genetic diversity within Cryptosporidi11111 pan111111 and related Cr,1p/()sporidi11111 species. Appl Environ Microbial. 65, 3386-3391.

UNSW

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

References L Campbell A T, Robt·rtsou L J and Smith H V (1992). Viability of Cryp1ospMidi11111 pan,11111 oocysts: correlation of in vitro excystation with inclusion or exclusion of fluorogenic vital dyes. Appl. Environ.

Microbial. 58, 3488-3493.

2. Dupont H L, Chappell C L, Sterling C R, Okhuysen P C, Rose J 13, Jakubowski W (1995). The infoctivity of Cryptosporidi11m panm111 in healthy volunteers. New England Journal of Medicine. 332, 855-859.

3. Elliot A, Morgan U M and Thompson R CA (1999). Improved staining method for detecting Cryptosporidi11111 oocysts in stools using Malachite Green. Journal of General and Applied Microbiology. 45, 139-142.

4. Fayer R ( 1997) The general biolot,ry of Cryptospt1ridi11111. pl-41. In R. Fayer (ed.), CryptaspMidi11111 and Cryptosporidiosis.

CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.

5. Fcrrari,l3 C, Vesey G, Weir C, Willi,11n.'> K L and Veal DA (1999). Comparison of Ciyptospo1idi11111-specific and Giardia-specific monoclonal antibodies for monitoring water samples. War. Res. 33, 1611-1617.

(J. Hawkins PR, Swanson P, Warnecke M, Shanker S R and Nicholson C (2000).

Understanding the fote of Cryptosporidi11111 and Giardia in storage reservoirs: a legacy

Study while working

External Studies/Distance Learning Enhance career prospects Improve professional performance

Certificate, Graduate Diploma & Master of Engineering Science Specialisations include: • Environmental Engineering • Waste Management • Water and Wastewater Management • Project Management For further information and application forms, please contact:

External Postgraduate Studies Program, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney 2052 Ph: (02) 9385 5080, Fax: (02) 9385 6139, Email: m,oconnell@unsw.edu,au S.02l86

WATER JANUARY 2001

41

YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE FASTCHANGING ENVIRONMENT SECTOR

The Australian Environment Directory Hallmark Editions, publishers of Environment Business new sletter and The Green Guide, have released a significant new reference and resource publication, The Australian Environment Directory. Thi s new 424-page Directory gives a comprehensive overview of the entire environment sector at Federal and State levels, allowing readers to quickly identify w hich departments, agencies, sections and units have particular responsibilities and roles such as greenhouse abatement, biodiversity and environment protection .

Branches and divisions are listed as well as the support programs and funding opportunities they manage, providing a unique insight into the management structure of the departments and agencies. This allows the right contact person to be quickly and easily identified. In each State and Territory Chapter, details are included of programs run by government departments and EPAs. These range from waste minimisation and greenhouse reduction through to air quality, catchment management, land, coastal and marine management. Local Government environmental bodies, and the non-government environmental organisations are described in detail.

The major environmental programs in the Federal and State sphere are linked back to the relevant departments and agencies allowing readers to clearly locate the source of the program. Identifying the funding sources available

through the range of Federal and State bodies is a key feature of the Directory which includes an index to allow for quick cross referencing. Thoroughly researched by the team w hich produces the monthly Environment Business newsletter and The Green Guide update service, the Directory is totally up-to-date and is an invaluable 'who's who' of the environment sector.

There are specific chapters of environmental educational facilities at more than 30 universities including science, engineering and environmental management. Research centres and agencies within universities and State Governments are listed in the research section of the Directory, allow ing readers to quickly identify the research teams and projects in fi elds such a s water, solid w aste management, and alternative energy. More than 700 organisations, research bodies, educational institutions are listed in the Directory. Contact details include address, telephone and fax numbers, email and websites. The Directory will be updated annually.

The Australian Environment Directory (ISSN 1443-9360) retails for $90 (includes $8.18 GST). Hallmark Editions is GST

registered - ABN 71 592 093 415.

¡----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ORDER FORM Enclosed is a cheque for $90 (includes $8.18 GST) payable to Hallmark Editions (Hallmark Editions is GST registered -

ABN 71 592 093 415) OR Please charge $90 to my credit card

O Bankcard

O Visa

Card no ................... / .. .......... .... ... / ...... .... .. .... ... /. .... ...... ........

O Mastercard

O AMEX

WATER

Card Expiry ...............

Card holder's Name . .... .... . ... . .... .... . ... . .... ..... . ... . .... . .... . .... . ... . .... . Signature ...... ..... ........ ................... ............ ........ ...

Please send a copy of the Australian Environment Directory to: Name ... .... . ..... ..... .... . ... . .... .... . .... .... . .... .... . ... . .... . .... . .... . .... . .

Position

.. ...... ... ............... ...... ......... .... ....... .... .......... ..

Organisation ........ ... ......... .............. .............. ... ..... ...... ..... .......... ........... ......... ........... .... ........... ... .. .... ...... ............ ... .

Address ... .... ........... ... ...... ... ........... ... .... .... .......... .......... .. ........... .......... .......... ........ ...... ..... ..... .... ... .. ....... .... .... ..... ... . ...................... ........... ... .... ...... ......... ........ ............... ... ...... .... ........ ..... ......... .... ..... ............. Postcode .... ..... ........ ...... .

Tel (...... ...... .) ......... .... ......... .. ....... ..... ........ ...... .... ...... Email ... ....... ...... ... ...... ... ...... ...... ..... ................. .... ....... .... ... .

Please fax this order form to (03) 9530 8911 or post to PO Box 84, Hampton, 3188 For further information, call (03) 9530 8900. Orders can also be placed through downloading the order form via the Hallmark Editions website at www.halledit.com.au

a

WATER

THE ROLE OF TOTAL COLIFORMS IN DRINKING WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT G Ryan, J O'Toole, R Bannister and D Deere Introduction To protec t pub lic health , regulators require performan ce meas ures, w hich demonstrate that water is safe to drink and free of faecal contamination. T his paper discusses the ro le of total colifo rms (as distinct from E.coli/ faeca l co liform s) in a risk managem e nt approac h to dri n ki ng water protection. A two tiered matrix that in tegrates with risk managem ent and qu ality sys te m compone n ts o f the drink ing water manage ment system is promoted. The m atrix , w h ich includ es totaJ co liforms as one of its elem ents, is proposed as m ea ns of integrating th e risk manage ment with traditional complian ce based on num eri cal standards.

Risk Management Components in Drinking Water Regulation In the world scene, dri n ki ng wate r gu idelin es are moving to incorpo rate management syste ms that exte nd the trad itional approach to compl iance with guidelin es. Fo r example, the curre nt roll ing rev ision of the World H eal th O rgani zatio n Drinking Waler Guidelines (W H O 1993) wi ll extend th e guidelines to include a broade r basis fo r safeguarding drin king water. Such guidance begins with sou rce water protectio n as a key clem e nt of th e m u ltiple barrier co ncept (C ho rus et. al. 2000).

This approach is consistent with the current development of a fo rmal drin king wa ter managem ent fram ework for the Australian water i ndustry (A11stralia11 Dri11ki11g Water C11ideli11es N H MRC/ ARM C ANZ 1996, CR.CWQT 1999)) .

The proposed syste m represents a preventative, holistic approach and incorporates the key compo nents o f hazard ide ntifi cation, risk management and contingency plan ning co mbin ed with the elements of quality syste ms (ISO 9000) essen tial to meet du e diligence. The emphasis is on preve ntion , rath er than afte r even t co rrective action to deal with fa il ure to m ee t num e rica l gu i d e li n e va lu es .

Num erical guideline limits are seen to provide verificatio n that managem ent

syste ms are effective, rather than being viewed as th e primary m ea ns for protecting pu blic health.

T he recently released co nsu ltation paper, A New Regulatory Framework for Drinki11g Water Quality i11 Victoria (DHS / DNRE 2000) a lso proposes ri s k managem e nt as a core elem e nt. R isk managem ent requirements are to be se t through futu re regu lation s and are descri bed in the document as " ...general obligations placed o n service providers that are based on public health risk ana l ys i s, d u e dil i gence, ha z a r d manage me nt and th ird party audi ting ... ".

The Role of Coliforms in Regulation Formal water secto r pe rfo rmance requirem ents develop ed over th e past decade through ope rating licences and MOU 's ha ve seen a shift in the foc us of opera tio nal activities . Water authorities are required to m eet key performance indi cato rs based o n ADWG or W H O gu idelines, and have geared operational practi ces to meeting th ese targets. Th ey have also been motivated by a desire to be favourably benchmarked against o ther o rgan isations. W h ile such competition is not undesirable, it creates a preoccupation with short term corrective actions. These measu res may reso lve th e immediate proble m but not its underlying cause.

In c re as ed at tentio n on co li form compliance has arisen from improved water treatme nt that has increasingly resulted in to tal co liform exceedances not being associated with the presence of E.coli.

In the pas t, co lifo rm co u n ts m ore frequen tly included E. coli, and an appropriate response m ay have been to instaU chJorinators or increase residuals. Such responses however, may no .longer be appropriate w here coli fo rms are in creasingly detec ted in th e absence of E.coli. In the absence of E.coli the re is greater likelihood that the presence of coliforms indicates possible regrowth rathe r than conta minant ingress, providing that this is supported by historical data and knowledge of the current system operatio n.

Rationale for Retention of Coliforms in Water Quality Guidelines Monitoring of drin king waters fo r ind icators of fa ecal pollution rather tha n for specific pathogens has been in place for over o ne hundred years. Indicator organisms are used du e to the nu mber of potentia l waterborne pathogens. The small concentrations of the pathogens in water and th e expensive, techn ically dem anding and time consum ing nature of methods for pathoge n isolation and detecti on (Edberg et al. 2000) has made co mpre hensive pathogen surveillan ce impracticable. In particular, coliforms have retained their position alongside E.coli as a preferre d indicator organism , not because o f their specificity but because of their ease of detem ti nation. T his continues to be the case, with recen tly developed defin ed substrate technology (DST) and related methods, which are both faster and cheaper tl1an traditional methods and allow coliforms to be detected concun-ently with E. coli (Edbe rg el al. 2000).

World H ealth Organization Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality (WHO 1993) acknowledge the limitations of total coliforms as indicators of faeca l contamination. The guidelines also emphasise their ease of de tection and e nu m era tion.

H owever, they highlight that the value of these organisms is for indicating inadequate treatment, post treatm ent contam ination or excessive nuttient concentrations, as well as the integrity of the distribution system.

Likewise, the recently revised Total CoLform Fact Shee t 4 (ADWG 1996) ack n o wl edg es tha t e nvi r onmenta l coli forms that are not of faecal origi n may arise from " ... inadequate water treatment/ disinfection, release from pipe or sediment biofilms; or ingress of soil s as a result of fau lts or repairs."

Both the W H O and the ADWG have promoted coliform detection as a routine operation al tool to manage water supply systems. Positive total coliform detections have been u sed for the fo llowing purposes, to: WATER JANU ARY 2001

43

WATER

• provide a sen tinel to the subsequen t presence of E.coli (groundwate rs); • evaluate the adequacy o f a treatmen t/ disinfection regime (clear waters); • indicate high nutrient waters; • indicate main s infiltratio n ; • in dicate ill egal c ro ss co nn ection , backflow an d negati ve water pressure; • provide a means to compare bacterial population s from differen t water quality zones; and • indicate incorrect readings of disinfectant residuals or inappropriate water pH.

Coliforms - A Contemporary and Retrospective Overview C ritical source documen ts that provide insight and a potential direction as to how risk managem ent and com plian ce w ith numerical standards m ay be in tegrated into drin king w ater syste m management include: • statistical methodo logy adopted for assessi n g U nit e d Kin gd o m wate r companies' compliance data (DETR./ DWI 1999); • recently re le ase d D rinkin g W a te r Standards for New Zea lan d 2000 (DWSNZ 2000); and • alternative approaches to recrea tional water qu ality monitorin g and assessmen t programs developed in Annapo lis durin g November 1998 (WHO 2000) .

Th e UK Drinking Water Inspecto rate (DWI) uses two indices of microbial integ1ity of drinking water to compare the annual co mplian ce performance of water companies. O ne reflects water qu ality (Overa ll Q ual ity Index), the o th er (an Operational Pe rform ance Index) reflec ts the effectiveness of system operation. Each is obtained by averaging the mea n zonal pe rcentage co mpliance of 17 and 6 ke y parameters, respectively. In grouping ke y pa rameters together th ere is acknowledgm ent that som e parameters are more important than others with respect to both public health and aesthetic considerations.

R esults for an indi vidua l param eter are often dependent upon local ci rcumstances and parameters in comb ination pro vide a m easure of how well treatment works and dist ribution sys tems are ope rated and maintain ed .

T h e Drinking Water Standards for New Z ealand 2000 (DWSN Z 2000), have also adopted the prin ciple o f "grouping" and have separated public health indi cators from those of o pe rational signi fican ce for th e purposes of p erforman ce assessment.

T h e NZ Sta ndards are des igned to protec t public health and apply to hea lth sign ifi ca nt determina n ds only. Th e 44

WATER JANUARY 2001

Standards divide determi nands into fo ur prior it y classes. T o demon strate compliance, only those determinands that fa ll into the highest potential risk classes (Priorities 1 and 2) are require d to be monitored. M onito ring of determin ands in lower potential risk classes is at the discretion of the supplie r. H owever, it is unl ikely that a water authority w iU fail to mon itor or seek to co mply w ith P rio rity class 3 and 4 gu idelines. T h ey are importan t for minimisin g cons u mer compla ints and provide input for ope rational decision making.

The proposed alte rnative approach to recreational water quality monitoring and assessmen t programs enun c iated by t he An napolis group (WHO 2000) , has th e followi ng properties, all of w hi ch are pertinent to microbi ological drinking water q uality syste m managem ent . T hey e nco urage: • a classifi cation sc heme that combin es microbio logical indicator measure ments w ith inspecti on based assessm ents; • a classification schem e based on the level of 1isk w hich indicates approp1iate p1incipal managemen t and monitorin g actions; • a flexibility in appl ica tion;

• a system fo r prioritising areas of greatest ri sk and e n couraging in c rem e n tal impro ve me nt; • an acknowledgem ent that different health risks associated w ith different sources of microorganisms (eg for drinking water - coliforms of non faeca l versus faecal ori gin); • an acknowledgem ent th at mi crobiological analytica l results o nly provide po in t- in-t ime in for m atio n , w h e rea s microbiological qu al ity may vary wide ly over time eve n w ithin a small area (eg for drinking w ater - dislodgment of organisms from biofilms resul ting i n a spike levels); • an ac know ledge m e n t t hat fac t ors affectin g water q uality va ry w ith location (eg for drin king water - different water quality in va rious distribution zo nes); • a system that provides a robust and rapid means of increasing the reliability o f the overa U assessment w ithou t th e need for increased frequency of monitoring (eg for drinking water - operational parameters can provide such inform atio n); • a system for reclassificatio n if effecti ve risk management intervention is deployed to reduce human exposure to co ntam inants (eg for drinking water - coliform

FILTRATION MEDIA SAND, GRAVEL, COAL, GARNET MANGANESEGREENSAND Invest in accurately graded, durable media from your complete filter media professionals.

U'e au, fdea4d t6

~

rp,u:

• Decades of mineral processing experience.

• • • • • •

Media produced to the AW'NA 8100-89 Standard.

An extensive product range at competitive prices.

Manufacturing In accordance with Quality System AS 3902/ISO 9002 Packaging alternatives to suit any requirement.

Proficient technical assistance and support.

Prompt delivery Australia-wide and Overseas.

So, tap into our extensive experience and helpful service when next you require filter media.

---~-RIVER SANDSm'

683 Beenlelgh-Redland Bay Road, Carbrook Qld 4130 INTERNATIONAL: +6173287 6444

~ E E CALL: 008 on 744

FAX: (07) 3287 6445

WATER

transgression maybe tolerated pro viding deployment of approp riate intervention); • a predictive approac h to dcurn: the conditions w here fa ilure (and by inference, risk to hu man health) may occur can be developed as pare of the process; and • an advanced predictive approaches are compatible w ith the approach to provide data on aspects such as reasons for shott term microbiological indicator coun ts, timing (eg seasonality) of elevated resu lts, potential fo r predi ction of water quality changes and fo r remed iation of poo r water quality.

A Proposed Matrix A water quali ty matri x is proposed that acco mm odates elem ents of eac h of the approac hes described above. This m atrix integrates the ri sk management and qu ality syste m components of drinking wa te r ma nage m e n t (F igu re I). The matrix approach is seen as a key link to developi n g a preven tative , h o listic approach to water quality thro ugh risk assess ment and manage me nt. It combi nes Quality Systems (ISO 9000) principles and the An napolis p rotocol (W H O 2000) . A co mbin ation of specifi c indica tors and an inspection-based assessm ent shoul d be u sed to deve lo p p reve n tative ri sk management strategics and determin e appropriate manage me nt action.

T he first tier of the matri x is a mandatory set of primary indicato rs that ind icate a h igh probability of syste m

fa ilure and p otent ial fo r custo m e r exposure. Indicators in the first tier are in te nded fo r complia nce monitoring or incorporation into standards, eg the pr opose d Vi c to r ian R eg ul ato r y Framework. The number of parameters in th e first tier has deliberately been restricted (cf. the NZ standards and the A n n apo lis protocol) to fac ilitat e " maxim um use of the minimum necessary mo nitoring effort" . H owever, these key indicators shou ld be mo nitored at greater freq ue ncy to in crease the likelihood o f detec ting inte rmi ttent c o n tamination eve nts, particularly in sm all er water supplies. Examples of su itable ind icators fo r this tier coul d be E. coli, turbidity, disi n fec tant res idual, numbe r of mains bu rsts, and pressu re fluc tuations below a critical th resho ld.

E. coli is an indi cato r that faecal co nta m inatio n o f wa te r ha s a lm ost certai nl y occu rred and that, therefo re, there is a possibility that pathogens are presen t. Turb idity m ay sh ie ld organ ism s from disinfection and comp ete for disinfectant residuals. Turbidity o r particle counts are also proposed as surroga te measures fo r protozoa rem oval by filters.

A co mbi nation of disi nfecta nt conta c t tim e and dose has been proposed in place of residuals, as a superior measu re o f kill effectiveness. It may however, emerge tha t disinfectant residuals are appropriate as a ti er o ne param ete r fo r so me supplies.

BOOK REVIEW Ground-Water Microbiology and Geochemistry by Francis H. Chapelle.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright 2001 , ISBN 0- 471-34852- X RRP $205.80 incl GST p l11s postage & handling Ideal for engineers, groundwater scientists and hyd rologists w ho want to upgrade their knowledge of microbiology, this excellent refere nce provides a compre he nsive coverage of the range of organ ism.s fo u nd in su b-surfa ce e nvironments. T he first chapters cover growth , metabo lism, ge n etics and ecolo gy.

For consultants and engineers who aren't microbiologists, and w ho want so me " how co" in cructions, the second portion of th e book w ill be a god- send .

T e clmiqu es for sampli ng and culturing samples from groundwater are de taile d an d explained. This is followed by a h y dro logi c p e rspec ti ve o n h ow m icrobial processes affect ground-water

geochemistry in pnst.111 e situations.

Th e sections on microbial diversity and niches in aquifer syste ms provided lots of surprises - there has certainly bee n an expansion in knowledge about these m uch ignored syste ms unde r our feet. Other chapters also introduce new material tho ugh not everyone will fee l th ey n eed to know the de tailed bioch emistry.

The fi nal section of the book deals w ith the degradation of human introduced co ntaminants in groundwater systems. There is an up-to- date review of the bioch emistry, physiology and re dox conditions that favou r biodegradation processes. T his is not a cheap book bu t it is a quality effort and it fil ls a neglected gap in the literature.

Available: bookshop@awa.asn.au or telep hone to +61294131288

Dr Diane Wiesner, Snr Scien tist, AWA Federal Office.

·--~ ·1

~tu.~B-,.P,R~tr 1

11~

~

Red Shoes strikes again!

Red Shoes [aka Margaret Bates fro m Guitz Events M an ag e ment) points out that the early rate fo r AWA ' s Water Odyssey 2001 to be held in Canberra in April closes on 31 Ja nuary . " And that is a strict deadline that will be adhered to," she w arns, pointing out that there is a significant d ifference - $145 - between the early and late rates . " For those who w o rry about it, that' s a worthwhile saving," she says.

But why go? Well, everyone who's anyo ne in the water industry will be there for a start. And that includes everyo ne who is rolling up fo r the worksho ps on the Sunday to discover the secrets o f urban water tradeoffs, managing water supp ly catchments, how local government fits in, where globalisation is taking us and CSIRO's Urban W ater Program fro m such luminaries as Dr John Langford , Jeff Wright, M ike Rayner, Gary Mitchell, Chris Pollett a nd Andrew Speers.

They' ll start off w ith a light lunch at 1 pm for a 2 pm start, so it will be an excellent opportunity to network right fro m the start. The w o rksho ps finish at 5 .00 pm, just in time fo r the welcome receptio n at the Nationa l Gallery of Au stralia w here the M onet and Japan exhibition will be on show . " Not that that could beat th e O zwater exhibition for interest," quips Red Shoes, " but I' m sure everyone, particularly the accompany ing people, w i l l enjoy e x pl o ring Monet' s relationship with Japanese art over his 60-year career."

So the big messages from Red Shoes are - " One: do you have it in your diary? Two: have you registered?

Three: (a s a lw ays) it' s g o ing to be a w onderfu l ex perience not to be missed. "

For further information or to register, please visit the convention website at www. l 9fc. awa.asn.au or contact ~. S II IJ Quitz on tel. (02) ~ ~ 9410 1302, email: qu it z @ bigpond . net.au

w· ~

WATER JANUARY 20 0 1

45

WATER

Colifor m s h ave been included in the second tier category Other Quality Systems Risk Management elements ISO 9000 AS 4360 be ca u se o f t h e Contingency • Hazard ambiguity associated Documentation ldenlification Planning with their detection in • Risk Audit Monitoring Management the absence of E.coli in Verification • Management th e di s t r ibution syste m.

Th e ir Corrective Action Asset Management undoubted useful ness Continuous Procedures as a n ope ration a l Improvement Critical Control monitoring tool is Points und e r sco r e d by experience in Victoria Water Quality Matrix and elsewhere. T heir inclu sion in thi s Second Tier First Tier Secondary Indicators Primary Indicators category has also been Coliforms E.coli i nfluenced by the ease HPC Turbidity of coliform enumerTemperature Disinfectant residuals (Ct) Pressure fluctuations Mains bursts a ti o n. Exceedances Water age (from modelling) Pressure loss should trigger approDisinfection byproducts priate remedial actions, Pathogens Dissolved oxygen wit h l ong term Taste and odour benefits rather than pH short term qui ck fixes.

Manganese Iron We have observed that risk assessment and Figure 1. Outline of proposed matrix approach. ri sk manag e m e nt approaches are increasNumber of mains bursts indicates the ingly being introduced into guidelines. The integrity of segme nts of a reti cu lation intent has been to overcome the prese nt system. A trigger level could b e set based limitations associated with strict adherence on industry standards, having regard to to numerical compli ance va lues without local facto rs. System pressure fall in g due consideration of the causes for such below a certain critical value is included exceedances. Under this new regime, 6rst as a measure of the poten tial for contamtier indi cator compl ian ce should be inati on of an otherwise closed reticulation reported direct to the regulator. For system. Industry benchmarks are currently second tier indicators the emphasis would being developed fo r both mains bursts and be on the actio ns undertaken, their effecpressu re flu ctuatio ns. and the usefulness of current risk tiveness, Seco nd tier (secondary) indicators plans. Audits undertaken management constitute those operational parameters would determine that: appropriate risk that show system p erformance and that undertaken; a risk assessment had been provide an early warning of potential plan was in place; and the tisk management water quality problems. These are not manage ment plan was working effectively proposed for compliance purposes as they and the actions taken to address the do not in them selves indicate system problem were appropriate. This is seen as fa ilure . R ather they indicate the reticua more appropriate means of promoting the lation system is perfor ming sub-optimally. of water that meets the requiredelivery T hese parameters should be used primarily ments of human health and aesthetics and for operational purposes. This is similar in changes the culture from "punishing non concept to the NZ Standards, where compliance" to "punishin g inaction 111 indicators have been prioritised based on response to non compliance" . health significance. Instead of reporting F or suc h an approach to work, a compliance against the standard numbers, number of changes to th e existing water authorities should be req uired to regulatory regime will be needed. Firstly, demonstrate appropriate risk management any propos ed Standards sh ould be procedures are in place and corrective confined to a core listing of fi rst tie r actions have been effec ted co restore indicators. For second tier indicators, more system integrity. Such compliance should emphasis needs co be placed on underbe determined by external audit. Where standing the facto rs that cause chan ges in secondary indi cators demonstrate a likely water quality and the threat that th ey health risk they may be elevated to the first present to human health. T his advanced tier; this promotion of key indicators from predictive approa ch is one proposed fo r one level to the next is evident in the NZ recreational water quality management Standards.

Drinking Water Management System

\

t

46

WATER JANUARY 2001

l

(WHO 2000) and is equally pertinent fo r dri nking wate r quality m anagement. It is only through understanding the predictors of water quality change that it will become possible to manage threats to human health posed by contaminated drinking water. A two tiered matrix sc heme integrating risk managem ent and water quality guidelines/standards will ensu re that quality of re ticu lated wat e r is ac h ieved in a sustainable and cost effective man ner.

References C horus, I. , l~ingelband, U. Schlag, G ., Schmoll, 0 . and Bartram,J. (2000) Water, sanitation and health Water 2 1 (magazine of the International Water Association) June 2000 p54-55 C R.CWQT (1999) National Workshop on Drinking Water Quality Management Health Strea111 16, 1-3 Dec 1999 DETl~ / DWI ( 1999) Dri11ki11g Water 1999: A report by the Cl114 !t1spector D rinking Water Inspectorate Department of the Environment, Transport and l~ egion/ D rinking Water Inspectorate DHS/DNlli (2000). A New R ~~1tlatory Fm111e11JOrk for Dri11ki11,~ W ater Q11ality i11 Victoria: Co11s11ltatio11 Paper. Department of H uman Services, Victoria and Department of Natural R esources and Environment, Victoria Edberg, S.C., Rice, E.W., Karlin, R..j. and Allen, MJ (2000) Escherichia coli: the best biological drinking water indicator for public health protection.Jo11mal of Applied Microbiology 88, 106S- 116S N HMRC/ ARMCANZ (1996) Na1 io11al Water Q 11ality Ma11a,~e111e111 Stl'!lte< ~)' - A11stralia11 Dri11ki11,~ Wa1er C11ideli11es 1996 National Health and M edical l~esearch Council and Agriculcure and l~ esou rce Managem ent Council of New Zealand and Australia .

Canberra, Australia.

DWSNZ (2000) Dri11ki11g Water Staudardsfor New Zeala11d 2000. M inisny o f Health Wellington , N ew Zealand WHO (1993) C11ideli11esfor dri11ki11g 111ater q1111lity - Vo/11111c ·1 Reco111111md11tio11s . 2nd ed ition World Health O rganisation, Geneva.

WHO (2000) Mo11itori11,~ B111/1i11,~ Willers: A practical guide to the desig11 ai,d i111ple111e11tatio11 of assess111e11ts ai,d 111011itori11,~ progra111111es. E&FN SPON, London, 187-218

The Authors Greg Ryan is Manager, Water Q uali ty w ith Sou th East Water Ltd, the water reta iler for south-east M elbourne. T he co ncept for the paper originated with his predecessor, Dr Daniel Deere (now P rincipal Scientist with the Sydney Catchment Au thority) an d South East Water Ltd com missioned the supporting work with Australian Water Technologies (A WT), Victoria . Ross Bannister is a Principal Co nsultant w ith AWT Victoria and Joanne O'Toole, fo rme rl y w ith AWT, is now an indepe ndent consultant.

Greg's e mail address is greg. ryan@ sewl. com.au .