Private & Off-Grid Supply
Drinking water compliance for premises on their own supply
Anywhere in Australia, if you supply your own drinking water from a tank, bore or surface source — or use it in a food business — you're responsible for keeping it safe and meeting the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. We build the program, run the monitoring it depends on, and give you documentation ready for a council, health department or food authority to review.
- Management program built for your site
- NATA-accredited laboratory analysis
- You sample, or we attend
- Benchmarked against the ADWG
If you supply drinking water, managing it is your responsibility
Anywhere in Australia, premises that supply drinking water to guests, staff or residents from a private source — rather than a town main — are responsible for keeping that water safe and for meeting the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. How it's enforced varies by state: some require a formal management plan, others work through public-health and food law — but the underlying duty to assess, monitor and document your supply is consistent everywhere.
Food businesses carry a duty that's the same right across the country: water used to prepare food, make ice or serve to customers must be potable under the Food Standards Code. If your café, kitchen or production facility runs on a private supply, that water is in scope — and one program can cover both.
In NSW specifically, this is an explicit legal requirement: private water suppliers must maintain a quality assurance program (QAP) under the Public Health Act 2010 and Public Health Regulation 2022, lodge it with their local public health unit and keep records, with penalties for non-compliance. We build these to the NSW Health framework.
We build your program and provide the NATA-accredited data and interpretation that underpins it — we don't certify compliance or guarantee outcomes. Requirements vary by state, so confirm your specific obligations with your local council, health department or food authority.
Who we work with
Premises on their own water supply
If your drinking water comes from a tank, bore or surface source instead of a reticulated town main, it sits outside the utility's monitoring — which makes it yours to manage.
Accommodation
Caravan & holiday parks
Multiple tanks supplying drinking water to guests, often on rainwater catchment with shared roof and plumbing materials.
Eco-resorts, glamping & retreats
Off-grid stays where the water supply is part of the experience — and part of the duty of care to guests.
Farm-stays, lodges & camps
Tank or bore supply serving guests and visitors, where surrounding land use can influence what ends up in the water.
Food & hospitality
Cafés & restaurants
Water in drinking glasses, ice, coffee and food prep — held to a food-safety standard, not just a household one.
Food production & manufacturing
Where water is an ingredient or used in processing and cleaning, often at rural facilities on bore or tank supply.
Commercial kitchens & venues
Function centres, clubs, breweries and catering kitchens serving the public from a private water source.
What we build
A water quality program, built around your supply
The program is the document your obligation turns on — a living record of your supply, the risks to it, and how you monitor them. We build it as a risk-based plan against the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, matched to what your state expects — including the formal quality assurance program (QAP) required in NSW — then keep it current with scheduled testing.
Site & hazard assessment
We map your supply from source to tap — catchment, tanks, treatment and outlets — and identify where contamination can enter.
Your program, completed properly
A risk-based management plan written against the ADWG for your source type — and the formal QAP itself where you're in NSW — not a blank template left for you to decipher.
Treatment review
An assessment of whether your filtration, UV or other treatment is adequate for your source, with clear corrective actions where it isn't.
Records that stand up
Monitoring results and documentation organised so they're ready for a council, health department or food authority to review.
How it runs
Set up once, then kept current
A program isn't a one-off document — it's a setup followed by an ongoing rhythm of monitoring. That recurring rhythm is what keeps it valid and keeps you covered.
Phase 01
Program setup
We assess your site, build your QAP, and run a baseline round across your supply to establish where you stand. A one-off, and the foundation everything else sits on.
Phase 02
Scheduled monitoring
Testing at the cadence your supply needs, each round interpreted against the ADWG and filed into your program, with an annual review to keep it current. Quicker and lower-cost once your plan is set.
Most private supplies need routine microbiological checks through the year and a fuller chemical panel periodically. We set the schedule to your source and risk rather than a one-size cadence.
How sampling works
Three ways to get your samples to the lab
Within your program, the analysis is the same either way — the difference is who collects, and how defensible the result needs to be. We'll recommend the right level for what you're using the data for.
Option 01
You sample, we coordinate
We supply the bottles, a site-specific sampling plan and chain-of-custody paperwork. Your team collects, and we arrange chilled courier to the laboratory. The best-value option for routine monitoring across many tanks.
Best for ongoing monitoring
Option 02
You deliver
The same coordinated kit and plan — you drop the samples at the laboratory yourself. The lowest-cost route when you're within easy reach of a lab and can deliver inside holding times.
Best for lowest cost near a lab
Option 03
We attend
A technician collects every sample to full chain-of-custody standard. The most defensible option where results need to stand up to a regulator or auditor.
Best for a compliance-grade record
Microbiological samples are time-sensitive — they have to reach the laboratory within a set holding time to stay valid. Whichever option you choose, we design the collection day and logistics around those windows so your results hold up.
Every round
More than a page of numbers
NATA-accredited analysis
The same laboratory standard used for regulated drinking water supplies.
An interpreted report, not just a certificate
Every result benchmarked against the ADWG in plain English and reviewed by an environmental scientist — the document that supports your records.
Every tank reported separately
Each tank or outlet reported as its own result, and priced per point so you can see exactly what you're paying for.
Filed into your program
Each round is logged into your QAP so your record builds over time rather than scattering across inboxes.
Why not just…
The shortcuts, and what they leave you holding
The form, not the work
Health departments publish blank plan templates. They're a form, not an assessment — the risk analysis, the monitoring and the judgement are still yours to get right.
Numbers, uninterpreted
A laboratory returns a certificate of results against detection limits, and most won't interpret it or build your program. You're left to turn data into compliance yourself.
A document that goes stale
A consultant can write a QAP once, for a project fee — then it ages, with no testing behind it to keep it alive.
We do all three as one ongoing service
The program built properly, the NATA-accredited testing that keeps it current, and the interpreted records that support it — one relationship instead of three half-answers, and a supply that stays managed rather than assessed once and forgotten.
Designed around your site
Test a whole site without paying for redundancy
A site with twenty or thirty tanks rarely needs the full panel on every one. Microbiological contamination is local, so we test it where people actually draw water. Chemical characteristics are driven by shared materials — roofs, tanks and fittings — so we test those across a representative set. You meet the requirement without paying for analysis you don't need.
An illustration of how a plan is structured — your scope is set to your site and source.
The process
From enquiry to a managed supply
Tell us about your site
How many tanks and outlets, your supply source, and what you need the result for.
We scope your program & quote
A QAP and sampling design matched to your supply, with a clear per-point price and no surprises.
Collected & analysed
Samples collected by your team or ours, then analysed at our NATA-accredited laboratory.
Report, record & repeat
An interpreted result against the ADWG, filed into your program — then we schedule your next round.
Who's behind it
Built and reviewed by an environmental scientist
Safe Water Lab is run by an environmental scientist with around two decades in the field and postgraduate training in environmental engineering. Every report is reviewed by a scientist before it reaches you — not generated and sent unread — and all analysis runs through NATA-accredited laboratories, the same standard regulated supplies are held to.
- ~19 years' environmental science
- NATA-accredited laboratories
- Every report scientist-reviewed
Where we work
Built for regional and remote sites
Because samples can be collected by your team and couriered, we're not limited to capital cities. Every plan is designed around the laboratory holding times that keep your results valid — so distance from a lab becomes a logistics question, not a barrier.
Get started
Request a plan for your site
Tell us about your premises and what you need it for, and we'll scope your program and a fixed, per-point quote.
Questions