Remote System Microbiology

Situated approximately 80 km south of Townsville in North Queensland, the Burdekin Shire covers an area of 5,053 square kilometres and has a population of approximately 17,500 residents. Burdekin Shire Council (BSC) has four water reticulation schemes: Ayr/Brandon, Home Hill and Mount Kelly, supplying drinking water to towns and extensive rural areas. The townships were first provided with drinking water schemes when the Chief Health Officer raised concerns over the many unsealed private shallow bores receiving contamination from leaking septic systems in the 1960s. Sewer schemes were added soon after in the 1970s. For a long time locals have considered their bore water pure and limitless.