The mystery of lead in the drinking water at Perth Children's Hospital site has deepened, with John Holland dropping a bombshell that contradicts the message coming from the state government.
John Holland's PCH project manager Lindsay Albonico, who has previously been prevented from giving interviews by government contracts, was granted permission to front the media on Wednesday.
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Thousands of defects at Perth Children's Hospital
Shadow Health Minister Roger Cook accuses the WA Government of 'spin' over the Perth Children's Hospital, while Premier Colin Barnett defends the project.
The company's testing showed that the lead was not coming from fittings installed by John Holland, he told Radio 6PR's Mornings host Gareth Parker.
He said John Holland had showed evidence to the government that lead had been detected more than once in drinking water supplied to the site from the 'ring main' servicing the nearby QEII site.
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This is not external Water Corporation infrastructure delivering water to the site but the internal circuit delivering water to all parts of the precinct.
"We have had intermittent delivery of water with lead in it ... [though] it's not something that happens regularly," Mr Albonico said.
"The brass fittings we have used are not unique, not special, they are Australian compliant ... we do not believe the source of lead is from the brass fittings."
Mr Albonico could not give a practical completion date but tentatively suggested mid-February.
"John Holland will not be handing over an unsafe building," he said.
"We have to provide 12 consecutive days of [lead free drinking water] ... that repeatedly we are able to produce drinking water from taps."
He said two of the four buildings had reached that testing level while the other two were about 80 per cent there.
In regard to the scandals over unpaid subcontractors, Mr Albonico said this was a $1.2 billion project with a huge management team and workforce, and relationships were as good as on any other similarly sized project.
He said the number of problems - which he said were between contractors and subcontractors - were not unusual; what was unusual was the level of public scrutiny.
"John Holland behaved in all instances appropriately," he said. "We are very satisfied."
He said "contractual issues" prevented him going into detail about who was to blame for the extent of the delays but it was "not all the issue of John Holland".
"It's a discussion we need to be having with the state.
"John Holland will finish the hospital first and have the argument with the state after."
But Department of Health director general David Russell-Weisz gave an interview immediately following saying the drinking water at QEII was unquestionably safe.
While he could not explain or disprove the John Holland results from early January, he said given the known problems at the PCH site, the North Metropolitan Health Service had increased the frequency of routine water testing done at all WA hospitals.
It had carried out extensive testing at the QEII site in October, December and again on January 17.
The environmental health directorate had reviewed these reports and they documented compliance with the guidelines.
"The public can be assured that the water is safe to drink at the existing QEII site. Known problems on the PCH building site are a separate issue," he said.
He had "no reason not to have confidence" in John Holland's claims of clear test results from its fixtures but the theories that lead could be leaching from them remained.
"We have consistent testing that the lead levels in the potable water at the PCH site are higher than the guidelines," he said.
"We see this issue very clearly as a PCH building issue.
"John Holland are responsible with providing us with safe drinking water ... we will hold them accountable."
He said there had been several solutions suggested to fix the problem including filtration and flushing, but John Holland would have to demonstrate that these would not disrupt hospital operations.
Who would be responsible for administering the solutions long term was a complex question depending on what those solutions would be and whether filtration was a long term solution. It could come to pipe replacement.
Labor this week claimed there were still more than 3000 defects to be fixed at the troubled hospital as well as 16 possible causes for the lead contamination.