Dubbo tap water: Local man shocked after water quality test reveals ‘black’ result

When a local resident decided to compare the quality of his tank water with Dubbo’s tap water using a testing kit, he was shocked with the result. See the video here.

A man was left “horrified” after a water quality testing kit he used on Dubbo’s tap water started smoking and turned black.

Chris Ryan, who lives at a property in Mendooran, initially bought a testing kit to check the quality of his tank water.

However during a visit to a friend’s house in Myall St Dubbo, he decided to compare his tank water to the local tap water.

Locals have been voicing concerns regarding the taste and smell of Dubbo’s water recently, prompting Dubbo Regional Council to issue a statement on Tuesday indicating there was an “aesthetics” issue however reassured the community that the water was safe to drink.

Mr Ryan said the water electrolysis testing unit he bought was designed to compare two cups of water to provide a visual indication of the quality of water.

The testing kit used by Mr Ryan.

“I wanted to test the quality of the tank water to make sure it was safe,” Mr Ryan said.

“While I was doing that my friend asked me to test the town water – the result was very concerning.

“If there is any sediment in the water, the colour will give you an indication of what the sediment is. If it’s clean water then nothing should happen.”

The electrolysis testing kit states that black colouring indicates there are dirty heavy metals in the water.

A slight yellow colouring indicates there is organic matter in the water.

Mr Ryan said the tap water started to smoke and react after only 10 seconds of the device being in the water before turning black.

“Usually it takes 30 seconds,” he said.

“It was a very quick reaction and very gross looking.

“We used a fridge magnet to test how magnetic the sediment was and we were right – the sediment was attracted to the magnet.”

Dubbo tap water's sediment being attracted to a regular fridge magnet.

Dubbo Regional Council stated that they were aware of an “aesthetics issue” regarding the taste and smell of the water.

In a statement, the council said the smell derives from a natural component, geosmin, which is found in the Macquarie River and had been determined to cause an “earthy” smell.

“While the taste and odour from Geosmin can be unpleasant, it is purely an aesthetic issue and the water is safe to consume,” the council stated.

“All water treated at the John Gilbert Water Treatment Plant meets the parameters set by the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.

“Council staff are actively looking at ways to improve the taste and odour of Dubbo’s water by further reducing the amount of Geosmin it contains.”

Strategy water supply and sewage manager Chris Godfrey said the water treatment process within the John Gilbert Water Treatment Plant was complex.

“DRC utilises Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) as a means of water purification,” Mr Godfrey said.

“DRC are investigating ways of improving the effectiveness of the PAC dosing system which may mean reviewing the operation of the PAC tank, to further remove geosmin and its unpleasant aesthetics from Dubbo’s water supply.

“It is a complex issue and we are pushing the treatment very hard in terms of its design specifications and capability.”