00:00 This is what the water looks like in the Yass Valley today, and it looks rather drinkable.
00:09 But it's not, and for the past seven days people here haven't had safe drinking water.
00:14 Some days it looks yellow, murky and tastes gritty.
00:17 This is because of what's called turbidity.
00:19 It's where levels of silt and mud can't be filtered out when the water is being treated.
00:24 The local water treatment plant hasn't been upgraded in more than 30 years, and any time
00:29 there's heavy rain, the same thing happens again.
00:32 It's left local businesses having to buy slabs of bottled water for their customers, leaving
00:36 them hundreds of dollars out of pocket, and the local council is refusing to help foot
00:40 the bill.
00:41 It's left the local community worried about their health, and some doctors say they've
00:45 noticed an increase in gastro-like cases, but it's unclear if it is connected to the
00:50 water quality.
00:51 A week on, some people are only finding out now that they can't drink the water.
00:55 And that's not overly surprising when the water looks like this.
00:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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