Parasites detected in Sydney water source

Sydney -- Australian officials say the source of Sydney's drinking water was found to be contaminated with illness-causing parasites eight times over the 12 months.

The giardia or cryptosporidium, organisms which can cause severe gastrointestinal illness, were found as recently as June in untreated water taken from the Upper Canal running from the Illawarra escarpment dams to Prospect Reservoir, The Sydney Daily Telegraph said Wednesday.

Water Minister Phil Koperberg said the bugs were successfully treated by the water supply's filtration and chlorination systems.

"In the past 12 months there were eight instances out of 604 in which either cryptosporidium or giardia were detected and all of those were at low levels," he told the newspaper. "It is important to remember these results are only from the raw, untreated water in the dams and not the treated drinking water supplied by Sydney Water to households."

Koperberg said Sydney's water department conducts daily tests at three different locations on the water after it is treated.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.