Attachments

Attachment A

Generic boil water advisory template

This template can be used as the basis for informing consumers that a boil water advisory has been issued. The water supplier or public health agency issuing the advisory can add or delete information as appropriate.

Boil water advisory for (name area/water supply)

The (Water Supplier or Public Health Agency) advises that consumers in (identify affected area, list towns/suburbs) should boil drinking water until further notice. A map of the affected area is available at (identify web-site – a map should also be attached to the advisory).

This advice has been issued following (state reason for the advice, including when the fault was detected).

Customers should bring water to a boil by heating the water until a continuous and rapid stream of air-bubbles is produced from the bottom of a pan or kettle. Kettles with automatic cut-off switches are suitable. Variable temperature kettles should be set to boil. After heating, water must be allowed to cool before using it, and be stored in a clean, closed container for later use. Care should be taken to avoid scalding injuries.

Customers should boil all water used for:

• drinking

• brushing teeth

• washing and preparing food or beverages

• preparing baby formula

• making ice.

Unboiled water can be used for:

• showering and bathing (avoid swallowing water). As a precaution babies and toddlers should be sponge bathed to prevent them swallowing water

• washing dishes by hand or in a dishwasher, providing dishes are air-dried before being used after washing

• washing clothes.

Consumption of unboiled water could lead to (provide list of symptoms). If you are concerned that you may have been affected by contaminated water please contact your GP and advise them about this notice. There have been (state number) illnesses reported to date (if any identified). The water supplier is working closely with the public health agency to identify conditions that will enable the boil water advice to be lifted. To correct the problem the (water supplier) is (state what is being done and why). It is expected that this will take (if possible give estimated times to resolve problem). The advisory will be in effect until the (water supplier) and the (public health agency) are confident that there is no longer a public health concern.

Please share this advice with neighbours and friends in the affected area.

For more information go to (identify website) or call (phone number of water utility, public health agency or dedicated hot line if established). Regular updates will be provided.

Attachment B

Generic template for lifting a boil water advisory

This template can be used as the basis for informing consumers that a boil water advisory has been lifted. The water supplier or public health agency responsible for the advisory can add or delete information as appropriate.

Boil water advisory for (name area/water supply) has been lifted

The (Water Supplier or Public Health Agency) advises that the boil water advisory issued on (identify date) has been lifted and there are no restrictions remaining on the normal uses of drinking water supplied to (identify affected area, list towns/suburbs). This action has been taken following consultation with (Public health agency) or based on advice provided by the (water supplier).

The boil water advice was issued following (state reason). It has been lifted after (state remedial action) has restored water safety. This has been confirmed by tests results showing (state results).

Homeowners and residents are advised that internal taps should be run for 2-3 minutes to ensure that any contaminated water is flushed from their plumbing. Owners and managers of large buildings should ensure that their entire system is flushed and that storage tanks are drained and refilled. Building managers and owners can contact (water supplier’s phone number) if advice is required.

The (public health agency) has advised that there have been (include number) illnesses reported (if any identified).

The (water supplier) is working closely with the (public health agency) to investigate the causes of the contamination/incident and to identify procedures to prevent recurrence.

For more information go to (identify website) or call (phone number of water utility, public health agency or dedicated hot line if established).

Attachment C: Inactivation of micro-organisms at elevated temperatures

Organism	Temp (°C)	Inactivation time (secs)	Reference
Bacteria
Campylobacter spp.	60	16.2 (3.9 $\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1988)
	63	16.2 (> 5$\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1988)
	62	15 (3.5-5$\text{log}_{10}$)	FSANZ 2007
Coxiella burnettii	79.4	25 (>5$\text{log}_{10}$)	FSANZ 2007
E. coli	60	16.2 (1.5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1988)
	65	1800 (6 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
		< 2 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
E. coli O157	64.5	16.2 (> 5$\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1988)
	65	3 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
	62	15 (<1-5log₁₀)	FSANZ 2007
Enterococcus faecalis	65	7-19 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
Klebseilla pneumoniae	65	< 2 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
L.pneumophila	65	9 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Dennis et al. (1984)
Legionella spp.	80	18-42 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Stout et al. (1986)
Mycobacterium paratuberculosis	72	15 (>4 $\text{log}_{10}$)	FSANZ 2007
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	65	5 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
Salmonella spp. (mixed)	68.3	16.2 (> 5$\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1987)
Salmonella Typhimurium	65	< 2 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
Salmonella Cholerasuis	60	300 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
Serratia marcesans	65	< 2 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
Shigella sonnei	65	3 (per $\text{log}_{10}$)	Spinks et al. (2006)
Yersinia enterocolitica	63	16.2 (> 5$\text{log}_{10}$)	D’Aoust et al. (1988)
Viruses
Adenovirus 5	70	1260 (>8 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Maheshwari et al. (2004)
Coxsackievirus B4	60	1800 (5.1 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
Coxsackievirus B5	60	1800 (4.8 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
Echovirus 6	60	1800 (4.3 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
Enteroviruses	60	1800 (4.3 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
Hepatitis A	63	1800 (>6 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Millard et al. (1987)
	65	120 (2 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Parry & Mortimer (1984)
		1320 (3 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Bidawid et al. (2000)
	75	30 (>5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Parry & Mortimer (1984)
		30 (>6 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Millard et al. (1987)
	80	5 (5$\text{log}_{10}$)	Parry & Mortimer (1984)
	85	<30 (>5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Bidawid et al. (2000)
		5 (>6 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Millard et al. (1987)
Poliovirus 1	60	1800 (5.4 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Moce-Llivina et al. (2003)
	62	1800 (>5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Strazynski et al. (2002)
	72	30 (>5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Strazynski et al. (2002)
	95	15 (>5 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Strazynski et al. (2002)
Protozoa
Cryptosporidium parvum	60	300 (3.4 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Fayer. R. (1994)
	72	60 (3.7 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Fayer. R. (1994)
		5-15 (>3 $\text{log}_{10}$)	Harp et al. (1996)
Giardia	55	300	Jarrol et al. (1984)
	70	600 (100%)	Ongerth et al. (1989)

The results show that bacteria are particularly sensitive to heat and rapid kills (less than 1 minute per log) are achieved at temperatures above 65 °C. Viruses are inactivated at temperatures between 60 and 65 °C but more slowly than bacteria. However, as shown for poliovirus and hepatitis A that as temperatures increase above 70 °C greater than 5 log inactivations are achieved in less than a minute.

Cryptosporidium parvum is inactivated in less than 1 minute once temperatures exceed 70 °C. Data is more limited for Giardia but it is generally more sensitive to environmental pressure than Cryptosporidium (Sattar et al. 1999) and it is likely that it would at least be as sensitive to thermal inactivation as Cryptosporidium.

Based on these results it is considered that the process of heating water to a rolling boil and then cooling it to room temperature or below would provide more than enough time to inactivate pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa. This approach is endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO 2011).

References

Bidawid S, Farber J, Sattar S, Hayward S (2000) Heat inactivation of Hepatitis A virus in dairy foods. Journal of Food Protection. 63(4):522-528.

D’Aoust J-Y, Emmons DB, McKellar R, Timbers GE, Todd ECD, Sewell AM and Warburton DW. (1987). Thermal inactivation of Salmonella species in fluid milk. J. Food Prot. 50, 494-501.

D’Aoust J, Park C, Szabo R, Todd E. (1988) Thermal inactivation of Campylobacter species, Yersinia enterocolitica, and haemorrhagic Escherichia coli. J Dairy Science 71:3230-3236.

Dennis PJ, Green D and Jones BP (1984) A note on the temperature tolerance of Legionella. J.Applied Bacteriol 56, 349350.

Fayer. R. (1994) Effect of High temperature on infectivity of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in water. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60:2732-2735.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ, 2007) Scientific evaluation of pasteurisation for pathogen reduction in milk and milk products.

Harp J, Fayer R, Pesch B and Jackson G. (1996) Effect of pasteurisation on infectivity of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in water and milk. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 62: 2866-2868.

Jarroll EL, Hoff JC and Meyer EA (1984). Resistance of cysts to disinfection agents. In: Erlandsen SL, Meyer EA, eds Giardia and giardiasis: biology, pathogenesis and epidemiology pp 311-328. Plenum Press, New York.

Maheshwari G, Jannat R, McCormick L and Hsu D. (2004) Thermal inactivation of Adenovirus type 5. J Virol Methods 118:141-145.

Millard J, Appleton H and D Parry J. (1987) Studies on heat inactivation of Hepatitis A virus with special reference to shellfish. Epidemiol Infect. 98:397-414.

Moce-Llivina L, Muniesa M, Pimenta-Vale H, Lucena F and Jofre J (2003) Survival of bacterial indicator species and bacteriophages after thermal treatment of sludge and sewage. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vol 69, No 3: 1452-1456.

Ongerth J, Johnson R, MacDonald S, Frost F, Stibbs H (1989) Backcountry Water Treatment to Prevent Giardiasis. American Journal of Public Health. 79(12):1633-1637.

Parry J and Mortimer P. (1984) The heat sensitivity of Hepatitis A virus determined by a simple tissue culture method. Journal of Medical Virology 14(3):277-283.

Sattar SA, Chauret C, Springthorpe VS, Battigelli D, Abbaszadegan M and LecChevallier M (1999) Giardia cyst and Cryptosporidium oocyst survival in watersheds and factors affecting inactivation. AWWA Research Foundation and American Water Works Association. Denver Colorado.

Spinks A, Dunstan H, Harrison T, Coombes P, Kuczera G. (2006). Thermal inactivation of water-borne pathogenic and indicator bacteria at sub-boiling temperatures. Water Research 40: 1326-1332.

Stout J, Best M and Yu V. (1986) Susceptibility of members of the family Legionellaceae to thermal stress: Implications for heat eradication methods in water distribution systems Applied and Environmental Microbiology 52: 396-399.

Strazynski M, Kramer J and Becker B. (2002) Thernal inactivation of poliovirus type 1 in water, milk and yoghurt. Int J Food Microbiol. 74:73-78.

World Health Organization (2011) Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality.