REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Thursday April 21, 1977

SAMPLES of drinking water drawn from the Nerang River were tagged as “unfit for human consumption”.

The water, pumped from a reach of the river directly below the Hinze Dam at Advancetown, was checked by State Health Department scientists.

And their pollution verdict triggered a “boil your water” plea by the Nerang Districts Progress Association to people living in the Gilston area.

The pollution alert followed routine sampling of drinking water at two centres.

Health Department tests showed the samples in some cases were “polluted” and in other cases “contaminated”.

Proper chlorination of water supplies were ordered.

An Albert Shire spokesman said the type of pollution was that normally found in freshwater streams.

“These waterways can frequently be polluted by rotting vegetation, the dead bodies of small animals or the faecal droppings of wild animals or horses and cattle,” he said.

“That’s why water from such sources should always be chlorinated or boiled. Water from the Hinze Dam could well be the subject of similar pollution but it is properly chlorinated and purified before going into the general water supply.”

The Nerang Districts Progress Association’s president, Merv Sivyer, said he could not understand why the public generally had not been notified.

“About 30 to 40 people in the Gilston area take their water from the river and we are now advising them to boil all their drinking water,” he said.