Rainwater tanks help Australians conserve water, but new research has found some contain potentially harmful bacteria and elevated metal levels. <\/p>\n
Researchers from Adelaide University and Flinders University tested 100 household tanks across Adelaide and
the Adelaide Hills. <\/p>\n
Campylobacter was detected in 13 per-cent of tanks, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 12 per-cent, Salmonella in 10 per-cent and Shigella in three per-cent. <\/p>\n
Bacteria were also found in tanks supplying drinking water. <\/p>\n
Of the households surveyed, 67 per-cent used tank water for drinking and cooking. <\/p>\n
Lead researcher Dr Mira Cooper said rainwater could collect contaminants as it travelled across roofs, through gutters and into tanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cRainwater might look clean, but once it lands on a roof and flows through gutters and into a tank, it can pick up bacteria, metals and other contaminants,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Dr Cooper said the findings did not mean people drinking tank water would necessarily become ill, but they
revealed potential hazards requiring greater attention. <\/p>\n
A small number of tanks also contained cadmium, lead, arsenic or manganese above Australian healthbased
drinking-water guidelines. <\/p>\n
Metal tanks were more likely than plastic tanks to contain elevated metal levels. <\/p>\n
Poorly maintained systems were also associated with higher concentrations. <\/p>\n
Senior author Professor Craig Williams said water quality depended on the entire rainwater collection system, including roofs, gutters, tanks and plumbing. <\/p>\n
Leaves, dirt, animal droppings and other material can accumulate and affect water quality, making regular
maintenance important\u2014particularly for households relying on tank water for drinking. <\/p>\n
Researchers also examined whether rooftop solar panels affected water quality. <\/p>\n
An apparent association with elevated metal levels disappeared after tank type was considered. <\/p>\n
No clear link was found between solar panels, bird activity and harmful bacteria. <\/p>\n
Further research is needed because testing detected bacterial DNA but did not establish whether the bacteria were alive and capable of causing infection. <\/p>\n
Published in the Journal of Environmental Management, the study is described as South Australia\u2019s first comprehensive assessment of the microbiological and chemical quality of roof-harvested household rainwater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rainwater tanks help Australians conserve water, but new research has found some contain potentially harmful bacteria and elevated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,137],"class_list":["post-906242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}