The CSIT (occasional) Health & Safety Bulletin, October 2002

1. Water quality at CSIT

(ref: http://cs.anu.edu.au/ohs/bulletins/Aug02)

I just received a second (hardcopy) report from Roy Schmid from the OHS
Unit, reporting tests made on 01/10/01.  The results are that the taps
in the CSIT Tea Room, CSIT Library and CSIT Student Lounge (without
being flushed) tested for Cu at fractions 0.1, 0.35 and 0.2
(respectively) of the health thresholds. 

This means that all taps and hot water urns building are considered safe
to drink from. I have flushed the urns to prepare them for re-use.

Please see me if you wish to read the report.

Antoinette has kindly agreed to continue maintenance of the water
filters.  These will remove remove chlorine, fluorine and other
additives as well, and in my personal opinion, are well worth having. 

The continued use of the filters is encouraged.  For the coffee machine,
the use of filtered water also will reduce the maintenance effort,
i.e. the frequency of de-scaling.  I personally would prefer to use
the electric jugs rather than the wall urns. 

With the use of filters, local tap flushing seems redundant, so I have
removed the flushing charts.

However, buildup of Cu and other impurities from the pipework depend on
factors such as the pH of the water supply and the recent amount of use
of the tap.  The Library tap has also the least favorable pipe geometry
from the point of view of buildup, and reflecting this, tested at a
significantly higher level than the other taps.  Without the water
filters, the flushing of this tap may need to be (re-)considered. 

I'd like to thank everyone very much for their patience and co-operation
during this year over this issue, which seems at last to be
satisfactorily resolved. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or require any further
clarifications. 

Peter Strazdins		DCS Safety Co-ordinator