Western Queenslanders need to think beyond “giving their families the same water they give their cattle” – that’s the blunt assessment of the state of water supplies in the bush given by the director of the Townsville Public Health Unit following a series of public information sessions held in recent weeks.
Dr Steven Donohue has been part of a statewide team delivering water safety messages in the wake of the shocking news that three children have died from a waterborne brain-eating parasite in the Winton-Richmond region in the past 14 years.
“Clearly PAM (Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis) is very concerning, particularly in areas with artesian water that’s got to be cooled down through turkey’s nest or pipes,” Dr Donohue said. “What we’ve got in many places are communities with 21st century technology at their fingertips and a 19th century water supply.”
Awareness of the disease was raised at the start of November by north west Queenslanders Jodi and Laine Keough, who lost their baby boy Cash to Naegleria fowleri.
Dr Donohue said their bravery in speaking out had shocked a lot of people out of a feeling of complacency, that what they had was “good enough”.
“People say, my grandfather grew up with this, but people have got high pressure pumps these days – there’s more opportunity for water to spray up into the faces of children.
“We don’t really know why we’ve lost three children in the Winton-Richmond area in a short space of time, but part of it could be because of complacency.
“It’s not just about PAM – there are a lot of other things – bacteria, amoeba, viruses, that cause dysentery and other diseases.”
While it was a political decison taken by individual councils, Dr Donohue believed every small community should be purifying their water.
“You can get pure water when it comes out of the ground or falls from the sky, but it won’t stay pure,” he said.
“Modern communities should be looking at highly proven technology that purifies water.”
He recommended a two-step system, filtration to remove dirt, and chlorine to disinfect.
Treatment options on rural properties are outlined on the Queensland Health public health website.