Canberra doesn't need water recycling plant: medical expert ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

5 April 2007

Canberra doesn't need water recycling plant: medical expert

After meetings with water supplier ACTEW this week, an expert from the Australian National University school of clinical medicine says a water recycling plant is a costly and unnecessary risk for Canberrans.

ACTEW is conducting a three-month community consultation period on its recycling plans but Peter Collignon remains unconvinced.

Professor Collignon says ACTEW is set on a new plant but he believes with an enlarged Cotter dam, natural flows will be sufficient to meet demand.

"This is a very small dam, which means there's only about half a gigalitre of capacity before it overflows," he said.

"Even last year we seem to have lost 13 or 14 gigalitres either over the top of it or released.

"This is as much water as we're talking about recycling, surely we could capture this pristine water."

See - Canberra doesn't need recycled water.