Bligh goes for minimal testing of recycled water ...

... before pumping it to people's homes.

With time fast running out to build any water infrastructure before dam levels get too low for comfort, Deputy Premier Anna Bligh has declared in today's Courier Mail that 6 months worth of testing of the recycled water would be sufficient to ensure that it complied with the non-existent guidelines for drinking recycled water.

Remember, Mayor Thorley's ill-fated Water Futures project would have involved 3-5 years testing by the CSIRO. No such failsafes for Brisbane residents. You'll get it delivered to your taps soon after it is recycled from sewage.

Excerpt from the Courier Mail (annotated):

Time cut for filters

4 May 2007

Only six months of safety tests will be possible for an ambitious plan to pump recycled wastewater into southeast Queensland's drinking supply.

A similar scheme rejected by Toowoomba residents last year called for more than two years of testing [actually 3-5 years of testing] and plans to inject treated wastewater into Perth's underground water supply involved one year's safety checks.

The State Government has been battling to meet deadlines for its Western Corridor pipeline scheme, due by December 2008, but is already up to two months behind schedule for laying some sections of pipeline.

Even if it catches up, there will be a period of only about six months to test hi-tech membranes for filtering impurities.
...

Before Toowoomba last year rejected a council proposal to recycle its wastewater, the CSIRO recommended testing for a period of two years. Perth will take a year to conduct health tests at a pilot project.

Deputy Premier Anna Bligh said yesterday that the commissioning of Luggage Point and Gibson Island treatment plants would take six months but the treated water would be safe. "Our operator has indicated this is a sufficient period of time to ensure water meets Australian Drinking Water guidelines," she said. [No such guidelines currently exist for drinking recycled water.]
...

The Government meanwhile claimed special wastewater filtration membranes were already being delivered in batches to the Bundamba plant.

However, it would initially supply only 20 megalitres a day to the Swanbank power station, a fraction of the 165ML expected to be delivered overall by the Western Corridor project.

Ms Bligh's office did not answer questions from The Courier-Mail about when orders were placed for membranes for Luggage Point, which would supply up to 100ML a day. [That's because they were probably only just ordered - what a farce!]
...

It also did not say when it expected those membranes to arrive and which company was supplying them. Sources have said they were concerned worldwide demand for the components could mean they might not arrive in time.