Australian Drinking Water Guidelines – Public consultation on draft guidance for lead replacements in plumbing products, lead and manganese

Overview

The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is inviting feedback on guidance material developed for the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (the Guidelines) on lead replacements in plumbing products, lead and manganese.

NHMRC is seeking feedback relating to the following guidance material:

• Chemicals leaching from plumbing products - draft information sheet

• Bismuth – draft chemical fact sheet

• Silicon – draft chemical fact sheet

• Selenium – draft chemical fact sheet (update)

• Lead – draft chemical fact sheet (update) 

• Manganese – draft chemical fact sheet (update)

• Proposed consequential edits to the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines 

The draft guidance material is available for download below, together with the draft Administrative Report outlining the guideline development process, and the supporting evidence reviews undertaken for each chemical / fact sheet.

Feedback on other aspects of water quality management or on other sections of the Guidelines are beyond the scope of this consultation and will not be considered.

What are the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines?

The Guidelines are part of the National Water Quality Management Strategy and are designed to provide a framework for safe, good quality drinking water, how it can be achieved and how it can be assured.

NHMRC maintains the Guidelines through a rolling review process to ensure they represent the latest scientific evidence on good quality drinking water. Updates to specific sections, including the chemical fact sheets, are prioritised based on expert advice and availability of new or emerging scientific evidence.

What is changing?

Based on a review of the available evidence, NHMRC is proposing updates to the Guidelines focused on lead replacements in plumbing products, lead and manganese.

The draft guidance material includes new guidance on chemicals leaching from plumbing products, new health-based guideline values for bismuth and silicon in drinking water, and updates to the chemical fact sheets for selenium, lead and manganese, including updated guideline values. There are also minor edits across the Guidelines to provide alignment and consistency between sections.