Politicians told to stay out of water debate ...

...let the media distort the truth instead.

This wonderful piece of fluff from news.com.au.

An excerpt:

Politicians told to stay out of water debate

by Carla Danaher

27 November 2006

Communities should be leading the push for recycled water, a leading expert has said.

Chairman of the Victorian Water Trust Advisory Council, Professor Peter Cullen, said it was inevitable that treated waste water would be in our drinking water in the next decade. But he said communities, not governments, should be leading the charge.

"I think individual communities will decide -- no one wants governments to ram it down their throat," Prof Cullen said.

"The governments aren't going to fly in the face of community rejection of it -- it's up to individual communities to say we need this as the best way to secure our water future."

As governments scramble to address the water shortage issue, a new survey released this week pointed to a growing acceptance of recycled drinking water.

A study of Melbourne City Council workers found 46 per cent were willing to drink recycled effluent.

The results fly in the face of a Queensland community's rejection of recycled drinking water in July.

After a highly publicised campaign, Toowoomba residents voted against the proposal, by 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

See - news.com.au - how not to let the facts get in the way of a good story.

The survey comprised 200 council workers - and this article reports that a majority of them did NOT want to drink recycled water.

Guess what - the Toowoomba referendum also showed that a majority did NOT want to drink recycled water. And this was a detailed 'survey' of over 52,000 people, not a quick chat with a couple of hundred council workers.

So much for the results of the Council worker poll 'flying in the face' of the Toowoomba referendum.

And there's that word 'inevitable' again ...