Sludge Watch ==> Australia - Drinking Recycled Wastewater - Do you want to?

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The question is being raised in the populated but water scarce parts of the 
first world:

Are you ready to start drinking tertiary treated sewage treatment plant 
effluent?

Do you want to see it pumped into the ground to mix with the groundwater 
that well users will drink?

Do you want to put it in the drinking water reservoirs?

Me?  I would rather see more groundwater conservation measures -

Here are some examples:

make industry recycle its own liquid wastes and not use public sewers
have better controls on wasteful agricultural water use
have ordinances and bylaws regarding green lawns or golf courses in water 
scarce areas
use composting toilets in coastal communities and new subdivisions


In general I think it makes more sense to value and preserve groundwater 
resources rather than polluting the waters by mixing them in the sewer 
system.  This technology - sewer treatment plants - is one hundred years 
old.  We have modernized steel, modernized textile, modernized energy.  
Isn't it time we went back to the drawing board on sewage treatment?

....................................


The Sidney Morning Herald

Debnam punt has a bit of a stink
Miranda Devine
February 18, 2007


IT is very brave, as Sir Humphrey might say, of New South Wales Opposition 
Leader Peter Debnam to turn the March election into a referendum on whether 
people will drink recycled water. Or "recycled sewage", as Premier Morris 
Iemma so delicately puts it.

Why, when the Labor Government is so vulnerable on so many issues, would 
Debnam risk everything on such a perilous point? And if he is being so bold 
and open-minded on water, why has he refused even to consider a new dam?

Regardless of the glowingly positive Herald-ACNielsen poll recently, and 
despite advances in filtration technology, there are still serious concerns 
about the wisdom of drinking treated effluent.

At the very least it is an issue wide open for the sort of pre-election 
scare campaign Iemma has already begun, inviting TV cameras to a press 
conference on Friday next to the icky brown sludge of an untreated sewage 
tank at the Penrith treatment plant.

That Herald-ACNielsen poll found 80 per cent of people in NSW would support 
the introduction of recycled water - in theory. The 1142 respondents were 
told "treated sewage and other waste water" would be "safe for drinking and 
other household purposes" and asked whether they would support or oppose 
recycled water to supplement Australia's supplies.

But a more straightforward question, including the word "toilet", in a poll 
by UMR Research for the NSW Government two years ago, gleaned the opposite 
response.

Asked how they felt about "drinking recycled sewage, including toilet water, 
that is treated to drinking water quality", 68 per cent of 600 people polled 
said they were uncomfortable.

And in a savagely fought referendum last year in Toowoomba (dubbed 
"Poowoomba") on whether to add 25 per cent recycled sewage to the dam, the 
vote was 62 per cent against.

We all want to do the right thing to conserve water, but the question is not 
whether recycled water is safe to drink. The question is whether we trust 
our government to effectively manage the water infrastructure into the 
future to ensure our drinking water will never be contaminated.

NSW governments have given us little reason for trust, judging by the 
crumbling infrastructure and water pipes bursting with sickening regularity.

Still seared into the memory of Sydneysiders are the weeks in 1998 when 
dangerously high levels of giardia and cryptosporidium parasites were found 
in the water system, leading to accusations of a cover-up by Sydney Water. 
An inquiry found there were problems with lab testing and operation of the 
treatment plants. Why wouldn't such errors be repeated?

Debnam talks of Singapore, but it is not a fair comparison. With plenty of 
rain but not enough land for dams, Singapore is forced to import most water 
from Malaysia. For self-reliance, it has added just 1 per cent of its 
Orwellian-sounding NEWater to reservoirs, rising to 3.5 per cent in five 
years - far less than the 10 per cent Debnam proposes to pump into Prospect 
Reservoir.

But we wouldn't have to copy Singapore if we built another dam.

Debnam says he was moved to announce his recycling plan after the latest 
downpour that dumped about 350 billion litres of rain on the Sydney basin in 
30 hours - about nine months' supply. The rain, which also raised dam levels 
by more than 3 per cent, demonstrated the wisdom of having storage 
facilities to catch the water when it falls.

Debnam is sucking up to greenies like Jeff Angel from the Total Environment 
Centre, who hate dams and desalination and love recycling for ascetic 
reasons.

Not so brave after all.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/miranda-devine/debnam-punt-has-a-bit-of-a-stink/2007/02/17/1171405496136.html#