Asbestos in drinking water samples

There are approximately 40,000 km of drinking water pipes that are made from asbestos cement (AC) in Australia, this being nearly 20% of the total distance of water pipes in the country. A 2021 report from the World Health Organization (WHO), Asbestos in Drinking-water: Background document for development of WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality, records that, based on a weight of evidence approach, available studies do not suggest an increased risk of cancer following ingestion of asbestos in drinking-water. This is reflected in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (2022). In the WHO report, it is also noted that due to the uncertainties and limitations of the epidemiological data, ‘it is appropriate to try to minimise the concentrations of asbestos fibres in drinking-water as far as practical’ and ‘it would be useful to conduct investigative monitoring to obtain further information on the contribution of older AC pipes to numbers, types, size and shapes of fibres in drinking water’.