Dr June Marks lets rip on the Council ...

Comments in today's Chronicle by Dr June Marks from Flinders University:

Eight cities in the United States rejected drinking recycled water because there had been no attempt to engage the community.

Dr Marks said it was “pathetic” Toowoomba had not learnt from others’ mistakes.

“They have really brought the community in too late,” Dr Marks said. “When there are perceptions of risk it is up to the community to decide the level of risk they are willing to accept.”

Long before revealing its plan to add reclaimed sewage water to one of the city’s dams, Dr Marks said the council should have sought residents’ opinions on water issues, including perceived supply problems, and possible solutions.

In that way people would have educated themselves and in the end might have come to their own positive conclusions on recycling.

“They should have found out whether residents - could identify a problem with the water supply and identify ideas of how to deal with it,” Dr Marks said. “Then they wouldn’t have got people’s backs up.

“It’s a very long process; it could go on for years,” she said.

Seems that Dr Marks is not a fan of the Mayor's "you'll drink it or you can buy bottled water" approach to community engagement ...