Research: in the field : Water works

1 March 1997

A three year study began last month to test the quality of
Melboume’s drinking water and what effect it has on people’s health. Six hundred
households from the city’s eastern and south eastern suburbs are involved in the
study which is being conducted by the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive
Medicine at Monash University. Each household is being fitted with water
filtration units but not all will work. About half the units will sterilise the
tapwater to remove bacteria and other organisms. The other units will continue
to deliver unfiltered water of the same quality that is received by most
Melbourne households. All the units will look the same and those involved in the
project, including the researchers, will not know which households have the
working units and which ones have the malfunctioning equipment. Families will
keep diaries to record all illnesses. At the end of the project, researchers
expect to know if purified water offers any marked health benefit. “This study
represents an unprecedented shift from a reliance on measuring bacteria to test
water quality to measuring the health effects on people,” says Christopher
Fairley, head of the Monash research team.