TasWater says lake water fine to drink despite metal contamination data from ANU

TasWater says it is safe to drink water from systems linked to the Tasmanian lakes this week revealed to have been badly contaminated by historic West Coast mining activities.

Cradle Mountain reflected in Dove Lake. Picture: Istock

TASWATER says it is safe to drink water from systems linked to the Tasmanian lakes this week revealed to have been badly contaminated by historic West Coast mining activities.

The authority yesterday reviewed its data from systems and catchments associated with lakes found by an Australian National University study to have been dangerously contaminated by metals.

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The study looked at lakes — such as Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain — within and near the Tasmanian World Heritage Area. Some exceeded the highest allowable levels within Australian and New Zealand sediment guidelines and were described as among the worst metal contamination readings in the world.

“TasWater has reviewed our data for the systems and catchments that include these lakes and we do not have concerns for drinking water quality as a result of claimed contamination,” a TasWater spokesman said yesterday.

“Even if sediments found their way into raw water sources used by TasWater, our treatment processes and water quality management regimes would ensure no contaminants would enter the water supply.”

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Science communicator Alexandra de Blas, whose research on pollution in Macquarie Harbour was quoted in the ANU study, said the research should be taken seriously.

“The heavy metals aren’t just locked up in the sediments, there is movement between the sediments, the water and living organisms,” Ms de Blas said.

“There needs to be follow-up research to examine whether these heavy metals are affecting how aquatic animals reproduce and survive and we also need to know if the fish in Tasmania’s internationally renowned lake systems are contaminated.”

Premier, Parks and Tourism Minister Will Hodgman yesterday said the ANU study revealed a “significant environmental issue”.

“We need to take advice as to those responsibilities and where they lie, but I think more broadly there’s a shared, collective responsibility for governments but also for those mining companies, now and indeed perhaps those past, to be part of remediation,” Mr Hodgman said.

Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim said it was incumbent on both levels of government and mining companies to take action.

The ANU study was published in the peer-reviewed Science of the Total Environment.