Palm Island water woes

DIVERS are investigating a dam that supplies drinking water to Palm Island residents after dark brown water started coming out of taps.

A Palm Island resident told the Bulletin the town’s drinking water had been discoloured for several weeks. “This is a FirstWorld country and it seems because it is an Aboriginal community then Third World services are OK,” the resident said.

“Imagine if this was happening in Townsville … the screams would be deafening.”

Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey said health experts had advised the discoloured water was safe to drink despite its unpleasant appearance. “It’s just the colour,” he said. “The advice that we’ve got from the experts is the discolouration has got to do with mineral reaction.”

It is believed excess iron and magnesium is causing the problem.

Cr Lacey said the discoloured water had appeared “on and off” in the past three months but had become a constant issue in recent weeks.

“I think with the heat and the lower dam levels this has become more of a problem,” he said.

“Like everyone, we really just need some rain.”

Cr Lacey said the Mackay Regional Council had supplied the Palm Island Aboriginal Council with chemicals to add to the treatment process and fix the discolouration as divers explored the dam for the cause of the issue.

“The engineers think the intake valves are touching the bottom of the dam rather than floating so they’re picking up those extra minerals,” he said.

A Mackay Regional Council spokesman said that water experts from the Townsville region had contacted it in search of spare supplies of the chemical potassium permanganate, which can be used to reduce iron and magnesium in water.

“We sent about 175kg of it to Palm Island that we had in storage,” the spokesman said.

“The council just happened to have what was needed and we were happy to lend a hand.”

Cr Lacey said the water colour had already noticeably improved but would take up to five days to take effect across all households.

“When I got up to make a cup of tea this morning I noticed a big difference already,” he said.

Cr Lacey said divers were expected to complete their exploration of the dam today and would then report to the council about a permanent solution.

“They’ll advise council engineers,” he said.

“Then we will rely on that information to form a solution.”