The 4350water Blog highlights some of the issues relating to proposals for potable reuse in Toowoomba and South East Qld. 4350water blog looks at related political issues as well.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Recycled water - why 78% said Yes ...


posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 10:32 AM

3 Comments:

Blogger Concerned Ratepayer said...

The recycled water industry and politicians are so keen for everyone to 'trust the science' of recycled water and then try to convince people that everyone wants to drink it by using fairly non-scientific surveys of small numbers of people and saying that represents the view of Australians.

Remember Mayor Thorley - '70% support my project' (until they asked her on camera and she didn't know what to say).

The University of Wollongong's study shows 11% want to drink recycled water and that's probably closer to the mark.

Wonder who really commissioned this latest survey?

From the SMH (this time 1142 respondents - 142 more than Beattie's survey):

We'll drink recycled sewage

The Herald/ACNielsen poll taken at the weekend shows that 78 per cent of Australians (80 per cent in NSW) would support the introduction of recycled water.

Support was consistently high across states, age groups and political parties; 19 per cent voiced opposition.

The pollster told the 1142 respondents that one option to increase water supplies was "to treat sewage and other waste water", that the water would be "safe for drinking and other household purposes" and asked whether they would support or oppose recycled water to supplement supplies.

1:09 AM, February 12, 2007

 
Blogger Water Hawk said...

In the AC Nielsen poll they did not use the word sewage in the question.
This also happened in the McNair poll where they referred to it as storm-water harvesting and grey water. These polls are very misleading.They did not use the word sewage either!!

Stateline had a story aired yesterday where they showed the use of recycled water on banana crops and tomato crops in the Coffs Harbour area. The reporter asked if they had any concerns about using it and the farmer said they were very careful not to get it on their face or in their eyes.

The big signs were all over the place "Do not drink the water!"

6:43 AM, February 12, 2007

 
Blogger Concerned Ratepayer said...

Premier Iemma can see the poll for what it is - a fairly misleading summary of people's views.

From news.com.au

Iemma firm on no recycled water despite poll

12 February 2007

The NSW Government will not introduce recycled water into the drinking supply despite a new poll which suggests four in every five people in the state are comfortable with the idea.

An ACNielsen poll, published in Fairfax newspapers today, shows 78 per cent of Australians would support the introduction of recycled water.

In NSW, the figure was 80 per cent.

However, NSW Premier Morris Iemma said he did not believe the poll warranted a change in the state's water policy.

"I don't believe that we need to," Mr Iemma told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

"There seems to be a determination to create a perception that we need to, and the poll this morning, if I ran our water policy on the basis of changes in polls we'd be running policy like a yo-yo.''

Mr Iemma said introducing recycled water into the drinking supply would lead to an increase in water bills, cost more to construct and take longer to implement.

"I don't believe that the central issue is if they will drink it or not, it's whether there is a workable plan to do so,'' Mr Iemma said.

"Even if the Gvernment was to say yes (to recycled water) today it would be near five years and a lot more expensive than the other measures we're taking.

"I'm not being pig headed about this, I just believe that the strategy that we have is the best one to secure our water.''

Mr Iemma said the four to five years it would take to build a recycling plant did not compare well with the 26 months it would take to construct a desalination plant.

10:30 AM, February 12, 2007

 

Post a Comment

<< Home