DRINKING water fountains outside Optus Stadium are contaminated with lead, according to tests conducted by The Sunday Times.
At one fountain, there was also a nickel concentration above the 0.02mg/L guideline maximum for that metal.
The Sunday Times sampled water from five of the new drinking fountains in Stadium Park on February 14.
The control samples, which were handled in the same way as the fountain water samples, returned zero contaminants.
“The waters which come out of these fountains are contaminated with lead,” he said.
VenuesWest said the drinking water system at Optus Stadium and Stadium Park was professionally tested and commissioned prior to Technical Completion in November 2017 and February 2018.
“Additional sampling and testing of the potable water in the stadium and surrounding park was undertaken last Friday, 16 February 2018.
“All samples from both the November and February tests were tested for Organics, Inorganics, Metals, Ions, Physical Parameters and Microbiology, with the total lead concentration results ranging from 0.001 mg/L in the scheme water sample to one fountain reporting 0.003 mg/L, all well below the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines’ maximum acceptable concentration guideline for lead of 0.010 mg/L.
We took water samples from five drinking fountains, taking care not to touch the lip of the sample bottles against the metal of the fountain taps.
After completing the sampling, we sealed the esky and drove it back to Eurofins.