Water Quality

Goulburn Valley Water / Water / Water Quality

We take our role of providing quality drinking water seriously and have established a Drinking Water Quality Management System (DWQMS) which uses principles of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2011.

Our DWQMS is regularly audited and reviewed in accordance with requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003 to ensure it provides a reliable and practical framework for the production and delivery of safe drinking water to our customers.

A GV Water employee visually inspecting a water sample.

A key aspect of our approach to producing safe drinking water, is the use of multiple treatment processes. Operation of our treatment processes requires attention to detail and our water treatment operators are trained to ensure they meet the requirements of the Water Treatment Operator Competency Framework - Best Practice Guidelines.

Our Customer Service Centre is responsible for the real-time monitoring of our water treatment facilities. They utilise online water quality instrumentation and a network configured database system known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). SCADA continuously monitors treatment facilities and we have the ability to remotely shut down treatment plant processes if required.

The cornerstone of our DWQMS is our Drinking Water Quality Policy and Annual Water Quality Report prepared in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act 2003 and the Safe Drinking Water Regulations 2005. They provide an overview of our operations, implementation of the Act and our performance. Monthly Water Quality Reports are also prepared and are available below.

Annual Water Quality Reports

Annual Water Quality Report 2023-2024 (PDF, 3MB)
Annual Water Quality Report 2022-2023 (PDF, 5MB)
Annual Water Quality Report 2021-2022 (PDF, 2.1MB)
Annual Water Quality Report 2020-2021 (PDF, 1.9MB)

Monthly Water Quality Reports

For copies of earlier reports, please email us.

Water quality fact sheets

We publish a range of fact sheets to provide information to customers about different aspects of water quality.

► Water quality information for beer brewers (PDF, 114kb)
► Water quality information - water hardness (PDF, 118kb)

Regulated (non-potable) supplies

Goulburn Valley Water supplies several towns with non-potable (non-drinking) water supplies. We recommend these customers have an alternate supply of drinking water.

Other water supplies

If you're not connected to a potable (drinking) water supply through a water corporation (like Goulburn Valley Water), you should make sure you're informed on how to keep your private drinking water supply safe.

If you get your water through a rainwater tank, bore, dam, river, creek or irrigation channel, there are some important considerations to ensure the supply remains safe to drink. You can find more information on the Department of Health's website.

If you rely on rainwater for drinking or domestic use, you should read the Department of Health's rainwater guidelines.

If you'd like to have your private water supply tested, you can find a local laboratory by searching under 'Water Analysts' in an online or phone directory.

Blue-green algae and treated drinking water

From time to time, we experience blue-green algae in some of our region's rivers and catchments which can affect drinking water - usually via taste and odour. We've compiled some information about blue-green algae and its effects on treated drinking water supplies.

► Read more here.

The cornerstone of our DWQMS is our Drinking Water Quality Policy.