Monitoring and reporting

WaterNSW is responsible for monitoring a significant part of the quality and quantity of NSW’s raw water supply. We operate an extensive water quality and quantity monitoring program to track the raw water quality of both surface and ground water sources. Monitoring includes physical, chemical, biological, radiological, hydrological and meteorological parameters through on-line instruments, field sampling and laboratory analysis.

Sites we monitor include:

• rivers
• lakes
• groundwater
• delivery network

We have three main monitoring programs:

1. Routine/compliance monitoring - this includes activities such as monitoring river health, testing for blue green algae, and in Greater Sydney, catchment monitoring and lake/delivery network testing.
2. Event/incident monitoring - responding to a significant weather event or other incident, such as algae or pollution, that requires additional sampling and risk assessment.
3. Research monitoring - this involves trialing new methods or analysing new risks and evaluating effectiveness of management interventions.

Reporting

WaterNSW is committed to providing up-to-date and transparent data. This includes our Annual Water Quality Monitoring Report. This report is for the Declared Catchment area of Greater Sydney, where our monitoring program extends further than general river health and testing for blue-green algae. It is a detailed annual report, covering our comprehensive monitoring activities for catchments, lakes, intakes to water filtration plants, picnic areas and downstream river sites.

Alongside our annual water report, WaterNSW also provides Sydney Water with key data to enable them to produce a quarterly drinking water report. This report is to inform customers about the quality of drinking water at various stages of the supply system.

You can view the latest quarterly drinking water quality report on the Sydney Water website.