Territory Stories

Alice Springs town basin, review 2003

Details:

Title

Alice Springs town basin, review 2003

Creator

Read, R. E.

Collection

E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; Report ; no. 42/2003

Date

2003-12-01

Description

Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).

Notes

Date:2003-12

Language

English

Publisher name

Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment

Place of publication

Alice Springs

Series

Report ; no. 42/2003

File type

application/pdf.

Copyright owner

Check within Publication or with content Publisher.

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/229443

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/672980

Page content

Appendix C shows all bacteriological tests in HYDSYS. Coliforms have been detected in 13 of 31 samples tested, a high detection rate. Further study would be needed to determine what the sources of contamination were for particular bores. Faecal coliforms have been detected in 6 of 36 samples tested. The two very high faecal coliform counts came from RN 6518. It is clear that the Town Basin could not now be used for potable town supply without disinfection. 5.4.5 Viral No viral testing in the basin is known, and it is very unlikely that any has been carried out. 5.4.6 Radionucleides During the period of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing regular checks were made of the radioactivity of Alice Springs water supply, as for many other Australian towns. No records of analyses for uranium, radium, or for gross alpha or beta activity could be found in the HYDSYS database. Two determinations of gross alpha and beta activity in 1985 were found in a data file and are shown in Appendix C. Levels are well below those of concern. 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 Cl in mg/L 0 50 100 150 200 250 N O 3 i n m g/ L Nitrate vs Chloride Groundwater Todd River at Anzac Figure 23 Nitrate versus Chloride 5.4.7 Stable isotopes Berry (1992) shows 18O and 2H compositions for samples from the Town Basin. No 18O or 2H data for the Town Basin could be found in HYDSYS, and the figures that 33