Canberra is fortunate to have good water resources and great quality drinking water. The majority of our drinking water is sourced from protected catchments. It is filtered and disinfected at treatment plants. Icon Water's drop won the Water Industry Operations Association NSW and ACT Water Taste Test just last year.

This process includes a pre-treatment of alum and a polymer coagulant to encourage solid particles in the water that could host viruses and bacteria to group together as larger particles, making it easier to remove them.

We then flocculate the water which involves agitating the water and causing the "flocs" to float to the top in a sludgy froth. Depending on the source water quality, we will also dissolve air in the water to cause more suspended matter such as oil or solids to float to the surface. These solids are filtered through anthracite coal and sand.

For any nasties that have made it through, we disinfect using ultraviolet. To ensure your water remains clean on the way to your house we add chlorine and ensue the pH levels are balanced with lime and carbon dioxide.

The work continues all the way to your tap. When drinking water leaves a treatment plant on its way to your house, it must meet strict government requirements for quality. We test all around Canberra to ensure we're meeting these requirements.

Water from different areas can have different tastes and odours due to many factors including: the location the water is sourced from, the substances being treated, the treatment processes used and the age of pipes used to transport the water to your property. Taste and odour of drinking water is typically a personal preference based on what an individual is used to drinking. Do you need a filter? We believe that most customers do not need a domestic water filter because of the high standard of drinking water in the ACT.

In many cases, individual filters do little to improve household water supply. It may be claimed that water filters remove substances that are not even present in tap water.

However, for customers with special health requirements and in certain industrial applications, purpose-built water filters may be necessary. It is important in these instances that the filter is properly maintained.

Response: Icon Water

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