Toowoomba residents set to vote on purified sewage plan ...

From ABC's AM program:

Toowoomba residents set to vote on purified sewage plan

26 July 2006

TONY EASTLEY: One of the websites advertising Toowoomba says it's set in a region of romance, flowers, wineries, and stately homes.And after this weekend it could add another description which will be an Australian first.Residents are about to vote on whether to allow purified sewage to be pumped into their dams, and then into their drinking water.

As pre-polling gets underway, everyone agrees the issue has divided the town.

Lisa Millar reports from Toowoomba.

MAN: Are you voting today?

LISA MILLAR: It's an election like no other.

WOMAN: Good afternoon, sir. Are you voting today?

VOTER 1: I am.

LISA MILLAR: Polling booths opened early, and there was no shortage of opinion.

VOTER 2: It forced the people to drink toilet water. Doesn't matter if the water is safe, it's coming from toilet, and people don't want that. That's all.

VOTER 3: Well, I mean, nobody wants to drink sewage. The fact that we're not going to drink sewage is sort of irrelevant to that. I mean, it's easy to appeal to prejudice.

LISA MILLAR: It's a radical plan. If the drought-stricken Darling Downs city of Toowoomba votes yes on Saturday it will become the first city in Australia to pipe treated sewage water directly into its supply of drinking water.

DI THORLEY: I'm sure there's people out there that would absolutely hate me for what's going on.

LISA MILLAR: It's been a fierce at times dirty election campaign, but the Mayor Di Thorley believes a yes vote is the city's only hope.

DI THORLEY: Oh, I think Toowoomba is as ready as anywhere else in Australia. I mean, I believe communities all over the world are looking at what they're going to have to do, because we're seeing a global change. This doesn't just apply to Toowoomba.

LISA MILLAR: That's where the two sides agree. Snow Manners, who's spearheading the no vote, admits there's more than Toowoomba's water supply at stake.

SNOW MANNERS: This is the crossroads of the potable reuse debate Australia-wide, and it has been so mismanaged by Mayor Thorley.

LISA MILLAR: Is that what you sense, that it is a crossroads, that this decision is going to be watched by councils all around Australia?

SNOW MANNERS: This is not only all around Australia, this is all around the world. There is no community on this planet that deliberately sources its drinking water from a sewage treatment plant, and therefore it's a new technology, it's an experiment, and Toowoomba is the guinea pig.

LISA MILLAR: Goulburn's council in New South Wales is considering a similar plan, and it's acutely aware of the controversy raging further north.

LOCAL: This is the nicest one. Last time I got fooled …

LISA MILLAR: Toowoomba's council has tried to win over locals, offering taste tests of the final product.But it won't convince residents like Kay Hartmann, who don't think the water's safe.

KAY HARTMANN: I've never been involved in anything that has been as serious as this, ever.

LISA MILLAR: What do you think it's done to the town?

KAY HARTMANN: Divided the town. Why weren't we told the truth from the beginning?

LISA MILLAR: Her neighbour, Nancy Bell, is already thinking about leaving.

NANCY BELL: They'll lose a lot of citizens, and I am one that is definitely going to leave if recycled water comes in, 'cause I just could not live with it.

LISA MILLAR: It's enough to make you pack up and leave.

NANCY BELL: It is enough to make me pack up and leave. I came from the north coast, and I think I'll probably go back there.

LISA MILLAR: But whatever the result, Toowoomba - like many other cities and towns around Australia - is facing a growing crisis.

DI THORLEY: Everybody is going to have to look at water differently, and I don't think we can wait until there's nothing left before we start to look at what we're going to do.

TONY EASTLEY: Toowoomba Mayor Di Thorley ending that report from Lisa Millar.

Source - ABC News - Toowoomba residents set to vote on purified sewage plan.


Hopefully on 30 July, the other options will be considered ...