Qld Opposition - you will not drink recycled sewage ...

... and a pipeline for gas water to Toowoomba will be fast-tracked.

Letter to the Editor, the Chronicle from Jeff Seeney, Qld Shadow Minister for Natural Resources and Mines:

I wish to clarify the Coalition's position on recycled water in light of ... recent comments.

The Coalition believes recycled water can and must be used by industry and for irrigation in both domestic and agricultural situations. It is absurd to be discharging tertiary-treated water into bays and rivers while at the same time using fresh water to irrigate golf courses and farms.

It is the Coalition's long-term vision to have a Queensland where all treated sewage effluent is recycled instead of being dumped into our waterways.

However, we do not believe Queenslanders should be forced to drink recycled water, especially when alternatives have not been properly examined and opportunities to use recycled water in industrial and agricultural situations go untapped.

In Government, the Coalition will switch industrial water users to recycled water rather than drawing fresh water from our dams where appropriate, while we will also encourage water swapping between recycled urban water and irrigators' fresh water supplies.

Further the Coalition would fast track construction of a western pipeline from the coal seam gas fields to bring water to Toowoomba, Dalby and Oakey.


Toowoomba City Council has now admitted that there is sufficient water for Toowoomba even if the current drought continues.

Toowoomba does NOT have to adopt desperate measures such as the controversial recycled sewage project.

There is time to examine the alternatives and, if gas water is the best alternative, build the pipeline to bring water into Toowoomba.