If we can put a man on the moon ...

... you can drink recycled sewage.

Or so Deputy Mayor Ramia thinks.

At the Council committee meetings this week, the Deputy Mayor implored councillors to believe in the science that was available today. Cr Ramia outlined the scepticism when NASA outlined plans to put a man on the moon - but it had happened.

This was said in the context of the Council's new $41,000 Water Book.

Councillor Shelton thinks the book offers "a one-sided view of science considering the jury is still out on the testing".

It's a book produced by the Council (with help from their consultants) which seeks to justify Council's push to introduce recycled sewage for drinking.

Why would it be anything other than one-sided? Look at the Toowoomba Water Futures website.

Forgive us for being sceptical of the Council's plans - particularly given their secretive approach to introducing recycled sewage and the way they have ignored the concerns of the community in Toowoomba and the surrounding shires.

As an example, for months the Toowoomba City Council resisted attempts to have the National Water Commission application released.

When it was released, it was discovered that the water which would go into Cooby Dam is not pure - it will have at least 30mgs/L of TDS - total dissolved salts - with unknown residual chemicals.

Let's be clear about this point.

Until the Council was FORCED to release the NWC application under Freedom of Information legislation and the level of TDS was then made public, they claimed that the recycled water was pure.

The Council distributed brochures showing nothing got through the membranes (and into Cooby dam) except pure water. (They also told us they drank recycled sewage at Disneyland!)

If they had been successful in suppressing this information, would they have EVER told the community what was in the water?

It seems unlikely.

Trust the science? First, you have to trust the Council ...