Water Quality Reports

Council ensures drinking water is safe to drink through regular monitoring and testing.

Water samples are collected every week from set locations at the treatment plant, reservoirs and town drinking water taps. These are tested by Council operators and independently by a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited lab to ensure they comply with The Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 2011 (ADWG). 

Drinking Water Fact Sheet(PDF, 242KB)

Annual Drinking Water Quality Report

The Annual Drinking Water Quality Report is produced to inform the community of the quality of the drinking water over the course of each year.

Download the 2023 Report(PDF, 3MB)

Voluntary PFAS testing in the Mid-Western Region 

What are PFAS?

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are human-made chemicals that have been widely used in everyday products since the mid-1900s. They are resistant to heat, stains, grease, and water, so they were often used in items like non-stick cookware, firefighting foams, water-repelling fabrics, cleaning products, and personal care products. However, PFAS do not easily break down, so they can remain in the environment for a long time.

How is Mid-Western Regional Council responding?

In mid-November 2024, Mid-Western Regional Council voluntarily took part in the NSW Health program to test for PFAS in the region’s treated drinking water supply.

The test results, received in late-November, showed no PFAS were detected in Rylstone and very low levels of PFAS in Mudgee and Gulgong. These levels are significantly lower than the limits set by the current Australian Drinking Water Guidelines and remain well under proposed new limits.