Sludge Watch ==> Australia - alliance opposed to drinking recycled sewage effluent

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludge Watch

The Food Safety Group at Kansas University have come out with a Tshirt with 
the perfect slogan for our times:  Don't Eat Poop.

I guess they need another one:  Don't Drink Poop Either
But "Think Before You Drink"  - the Aussie campaign slogan is great.

But sewage sludge and sewage effluent contains worse things than 
poop...industrial chemcials, drugs, and hormone distrupting chemicals.  It 
makes no sense to drink sewage effluent.

Water conservation strategies need to be pursued.  But as we see in this 
story the wastewater industry is keen to force recycled water into the 
drinking water aquifer. The same trend it heading into California and 
Arizona.  All the Aussie news stories were about the wastewater 'experts'  
sniffing about 'scaremongering'.  The contaminants in reclaimed water 
certainly are an issue.


What to do instead?

Composting toilets would be a good start.... the zero flush toilet...and no 
industrial contaminated poo.

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Campaign countered
By Steven Wardill
March 20, 2007 11:00pm


A KEY expert has rejected claims in a new pamphlet linking recycled water to 
liver cancer and feminisation of lambs and fish.

University of Queensland's Paul Greenfield yesterday said the 28-page 
document had quoted numerous experts out of context, while other claims were 
"rubbish".

The document is being distributed to 400,000 households around Brisbane by a 
secret alliance of individuals and businesses opposed to adding recycled 
water to drinking supplies.

Group spokesman Toowoomba councillor Snow Manners yesterday refused to name 
those funding the document but said they included local food manufacturers.

Cr Manners said he expected criticism, but the document, which cost about 
$300,000 to print and distribute, dispelled many of the myths about recycled 
water's safety.

"There are no studies to say (recycled water) is safe," he said.

"Yet, there are an untold number of studies questioning the safety."

Cr Manners warned the group had gathered a war chest to spend on spreading 
the truth about recycled water.

"We will throw another $1 million at it until politicians and the media 
start telling the truth," he said.

The pamphlet quotes a 1996 study which found there was a 100 per cent 
increase in liver cancer rates in areas using "reclaimed water".

It also quotes a 1998 British study linking sewage treatment chemicals to 
male fish producing eggs and a finding by Scottish scientists showing male 
lambs behaving like females after being fed sewage sludge pellets.

However, Professor Greenfield, who heads the Queensland Water Commission's 
expert advisory panel, said the document either deliberately or mistakenly 
confused the issues.

"I understand it is new and people are worried," Professor Greenfield said.

"But the arguments in this document are taken out of context.

"As a piece of science it is pretty rubbish."

Infrastructure Minister Anna Bligh said the document was littered with 
inaccuracies.

"This is a document that is so riddled with misinformation the best thing 
you can do with it is throw it in your recycled paper bin," she said.

Liberal leader Bruce Flegg said he believed recycled water could be 
delivered safely but an informed debate about whether the State Government 
could do this was essential.

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http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=255986