While much of the MidCoast has been impacted by the widespread flooding that occurred last weekend, it's important to know that the region's drinking water is safe for consumption and has remained so since the disaster began.
Council's Director of Infrastructure and Engineering Services, Rob Scott, said Council has extensive monitoring and control measures in place to ensure our water is safe to drink.
"We monitor all aspects of the water supply system and are constantly adjusting the treatment systems to get the best quality water we can," he said.
"Our water must meet the standards of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and I'm happy to report that this continues to be the case across all six of our water supply systems.
"I understand that people may have their concerns given the appearance of our rivers at the moment, but we've spent the last 20 years investing in our water treatment capabilities and as a result we've got the technology, operators and processes in place to continue to supply safe drinking water to the community."
Mr Scott explained that the majority of Council's water supply systems incorporated the use of either off-creek storage dams or groundwater, meaning there was no need to draw from the river directly.
"The only exceptions to this are Bulahdelah and Gloucester, but our water treatment plants at both of these locations are more than capable of treating the water to a safe standard.
"The only real impact the flooding had on our water supply was a brief power outage at the Gloucester Water Treatment Plant, at which time we just supplied water from the town's reservoirs. With the community's help we were able to keep water use low until the power was restored."
