Why Toowoomba City Council will need a "No Drugs Down the Drain" campaign ...
There are many things that the Toowoomba City Council has not yet considered as part of its Water Futures project.
Each one will add to the cost of the overall project.
If the Yes vote succeeds and Council can meet the other conditions attached to the Federal funding (assuming the Federal funding is not cut once the missing hydrology report scandal deepens), they will need a campaign to educate the Toowoomba residents not to put drugs down the drain.
The US has such a campaign (the website is sponsored by Orange County Sanitation District, the city of Los Angeles, the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles and the City of San Diego).
Why do they need one?
What are the impacts on human health and the environment?
"This is a complex issue and the level of risk to humans and the environment is still being determined. There are tens of thousands of medicinal products on the market with more being developed each year. It is not definitively known which particular medicinal compounds or mixtures of these are a problem or what the long-term risks are. However, research is ongoing and, in the meantime, it is prudent to limit the disposal of waste medications to the sewer in order to minimize the potential negative and irreversible impacts on the environment."
Source - No Drugs Down the Drain.
Will the Toowoomba City Council use this language in their campaign to stop drugs going down the drain? It is somewhat inconsistent with their Water Futures promotional material ...
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 11:03 AM
12 Comments:
A “no drugs down the drain” policy is probably a prudent idea for any city which disposes treated effluent to the environment. However, I think a few points should be considered:
1. Current evidence suggests that in most cases drugs (and their metabolites) in sewage come predominately from those which have been consumed and excreted.
2. There are many more compounds in sewage of at-least equal concern (eg. natural hormones, disinfectants, etc).
3. Even if a city has such a campaign, it does not mean that every individual will follow it faithfully.
Therefore, it is my opinion that while such campaigns are useful, they are not sufficient to properly address the issues relating to these compounds. A much more effective approach is to ensure high-quality water treatment. In this arena, the proposed Toowoomba scheme is absolutely world class (at least the component which would be recycled for drinking!). Therefore, I wouldn’t see it as a requirement for Toowoomba to adopt such a policy based on the application of indirect potable recycling (unless it became a general State or National policy for all areas).
Good on Orange County for getting behind the Californian campaign (as one of the largest, most progressive utilities in California they should!), but clearly the real risks are posed by the effluent that Orange County (and other utilities) discharge to the environment without advanced treatment.
12:14 PM, June 15, 2006
So Orange County which is a model for Toowoomba to follow agrees on the following statement:
What are the impacts on human health and the environment?
"This is a complex issue and the level of risk to humans and the environment is still being determined. There are tens of thousands of medicinal products on the market with more being developed each year. It is not definitively known which particular medicinal compounds or mixtures of these are a problem or what the long-term risks are. However, research is ongoing and, in the meantime, it is prudent to limit the disposal of waste medications to the sewer in order to minimize the potential negative and irreversible impacts on the environment."
You couldn't get anyone from the Toowoomba City Council to make a similar statement even if you paid them!
All the Council will say is the prepared script - "it's new technology that's done all over the world" - as inconsistent as that statement is.
The suggestion is that Toowoomba will need a "No Drugs Down the Drain" campaign if the Water Futures project proceeds.
12:28 PM, June 15, 2006
Stuart
Can you tell us if you think it is necessary for the TCC to spend a min. of $3 million of taxpayers money on its education centre which will be located out at Meringandan and will most likely become a white elephant like its Singapore equivalent.
Thanks
12:31 PM, June 15, 2006
Let me begin by saying that I really am not trying to start a slanging match, I chose this post to respond to since it is a topic that I have some experience with.
I wouldn’t normally consider appropriate for me to comment on how the city of Toowoomba chooses to spend money. However, since you have asked me directly for my opinion, I will make three points:
1. It is proposed that the Commonwealth Government provide millions of dollars of funding for Toowoomba Water Futures. Therefore, it would be entirely appropriate for a small percentage of that to deliver some national benefits. A water recycling educational centre could certainly be expected to deliver national benefits.
2. I think there is an obvious interest from within the community (Toowoomba and elsewhere) to investigate and learn more about municipal water management in Australia. An educational facility would therefore be of significant local value, especially for school groups etc.
3. The suggestion that the visitor centre at Singapore is a white elephant is incorrect. If you want to visit, you need to book ahead via the PUB website. When I visited, I had to book more than a month ahead. That visitor centre attracts groups from local schools to international conference delegations. It is always busy.
In response to the quote provided above (by concerned ratepayer), I agree with it entirely. However, it applies infinitely more to discharged effluent from the Californian utilities, than it does to advanced treated water for potable reuse.
12:57 PM, June 15, 2006
Stuart
Agree - no slanging matches.
The NEWater facility just seems to be for school kids (who have to go to graduate from school) and industry people.
I have been there and at that session there were around 6 people only. The taxi driver who took me had never dropped anyone there before. I have seen the website bookings showing no vacancy but guess it is the school kids who have to go.
The interactive computer equipment seems very child oriented - the guide didn't think I would want to use it - some of it wasn't even working at my session.
Quite funny, at the session I went to, the other people all from Singapore refused to taste the NEWater (true) - I was the only one who did.
I have problems with the estimated cost - $3mil. The TCC seem to have made up this number based on the NEWater one costing $5mil. (Sing dollars) when it was built. I don't think they have any idea about how much it will cost.
Also not sure why people would want to make the trip out to Meringandan. Some form of much cheaper model could be set up at the TCC building, without all the interactive equipment which just seems to be for kids.
Singapore has over 4 mil. people so quite a few kids they can push through the centre. Toowoomba has nothing like the same number of kids unless you're going to bus them in from other parts of the state and interstate. And will the government make it compulsory for kids to go?
I do see your point about your No. 1.
1:25 PM, June 15, 2006
See here for the NEWwater tour schedule:
NEWater tours
1:37 PM, June 15, 2006
Indeed, but you have to remember that "capacity" is 600 people per day (5 sessions of 120 people).
In my opinion (and I imagine that wateruser06 may agree), this is WAY too many for the relatively small space. So to have 200-300 spare vacancies is actually a good thing.
Having around 300 visitors per day is not a white elephant.
1:55 PM, June 15, 2006
I agree with 2woomba that the NEWater facility looks a bit run down.
Singapore is a place that takes pride in the appearance of its buildings but the NEWater building is looking a bit tired.
From the weather beaten flags on the driveway to no obvious fulltime staff - the guide on my visit was on loan from one of the other public attractions in Singapore - to the computer equipment that wasn't working and to the outdated content in some of the presentations, it seems the Singapore government doesn't want to spend any more money on it. Anyway, that was the impression I got from my visit.
120 could fit in the big multimedia room pretty easily - plenty of computers. If you did have 120 there, it might be full house in the auditorium and a little tight for the presentation in the area where you view the recycling process.
With only around 6 in my group, we rattled around the place.
A facility is only as good as the people who run it. Toowoomba could run a facility like this better but, without mandatory trips for school kids, I wonder if we need to go to the expense. I imagine the industry people don't really use or care about the multimedia/computer section of the NEWater facility.
And let's get the costs right before building it. Like the rest of the project, I fear significant cost overruns.
5:08 PM, June 15, 2006
I wont provide any response to requests that conclude with a public suggestion that I have been paid by anyone to express my opinion.
11:05 AM, June 16, 2006
Unfortunately, such is the level of distrust with sections of the Toowoomba population that anyone who offers a view that seems similar to the Toowoomba City Council is thought to be linked to them.
Rightly or wrongly, it started with your colleague at UNSW, when he was held up as the Toowoomba City Council's golden expert while they failed to disclose that he was at that time a consultant to CH2M Hill.
The fact that Council meeting minutes continually referred to his position at UNSW but not the consultancy at CH2M Hill only further outraged the community.
So any industry person coming to the debate has to deal with this sort of suspicion. Such is the level of distrust of the Council and its tactics.
11:38 AM, June 16, 2006
Its hard to make them see, isn't Stuart?
3:30 PM, June 16, 2006
Perhaps some people.
No-one has shown any Toowoomba City Council/Khan connection to date and there is no reason to question Stuart's intentions. (This blog has not gone looking either.)
He sits on the opposite side of some aspects of this debate. For this reason, some people question his motives.
Note not all people who oppose the Toowoomba City Council share this view.
4:44 PM, June 16, 2006
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