SEQ pipeline a pipedream ...

Excerpt from the Courier Mail:

Pipedream still distant

30 June 2007

From the air it doesn't look like it, but this is the "world-record" construction effort on Queensland's most critical piece of water infrastructure.

Photos taken on Thursday showed activity along only five small sections of the 200km route of the Western Corridor recycled pipeline, due for completion by December next year.

Numerous waterways and roads still had not been traversed and preparation work had not started in marshy and wooded terrain south of the Brisbane River.

Urban and industrial areas from Mt Petrie to Browns Plains also awaited the bulldozer.

Most of the 33km of pipeline laid so far was on easily accessible land north of Esk and near Bundamba, where an advanced treatment plant is being constructed, and around Goodna.
...

An infrastructure consultant shown the aerial photos was surprised at the lack of activity. "Frankly I don't see how it could be done, within even six months or a year of the target," he said. "Activity seems less intense than what I would have anticipated."
...

While the pace of pipe-laying has accelerated in recent times, it is still averaging only 5km a month.

At that rate the project will take another 31 months – but only 18 remain before the deadline.
...

See - Courier Mail - Pipedream still distant.

Brisbane taps new water source ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

New Brisbane water source comes on line

28 June 2007

The first new source of drinking water for Brisbane in more than 20 years will come on line today.

It is expected the Sunnybank Water Treatment Plant will add about 2.5 million litres of treated groundwater to the water supply each day.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman says the plant treats groundwater sourced from nearby bores.

"This is the first new drinking water to be brought on line for the city of Brisbane as I understand it since the 1985 completion of Wivenhoe Dam," he said.
...

See - ABC News - New Brisbane water source comes on line.

Beattie offsider heads for Babcock and Brown ...

See - Beattie farewells director-general.

Time to get off the ship ...

Beattie - we'll only do the referendum I want ...

Premier Beattie contemplates a referendum on daylight saving for the SEQ corner.

See - Daylight saving referendum.

But no referendum on whether people should be forced to drink his recycled water ...

Outgoing Mayor says No vote was vote of no confidence ...

Toowoomba's outgoing Mayor was quoted on the ABC (as reported in the Courier Mail on 28 June) as saying that she had 'taken the anti-recycling vote [actually an 'anti-potable reuse experiment' vote] as a vote of no confidence in her leadership'.

Her resignation follows comments made 11 months ago that she and her councillors would stand again in the 15 March election despite the strong "no" vote at the referendum last July.

You can listen to her here - outgoing Mayor post-referendum comments - blaming everyone but herself for losing the referendum.

Perhaps that was a rare moment on honesty creeping in on the ABC ...

Seawater worth bottling ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Seawater worth bottling

26 June 2007

It definitely tastes different. Not bad different or good different, just different.

Stephanie Peatling samples the water at the world's biggest desalination plant.

As the NSW Government pushes ahead with its decision to build a $1.76 billion desalination plant in Sydney, many residents are bound to be wondering what the water will taste like.

Desalinated water is a daily reality for many Israelis, via the desalination plant at Ashkelon, not far from the Gaza Strip and about 90 minutes' drive south from Tel Aviv.

The plant supplies 110 million cubic metres of water a year, or 330,000 cubic metres a day, employing reverse osmosis technology, which uses large amounts of energy to force seawater through membranes to strip the water of its salt before treating it and piping it to homes.

From the tap it tastes like it has a higher mineral content than the water Sydneysiders might be used to, but only in the way bottled waters taste different from tap water.

The plant is owned by the VID Desalination Company, a conglomerate contracted by the Israeli Government to provide drinking water for a further 20 years. Ownership of the plant will then revert to the Government.

The plant's substantial power needs are met by its natural gas plant.

On a rare tour for journalists, the operations manager, Micha Taub, explains how the plant turns salt water into fresh.

Seawater is taken from one kilometre out to sea to ensure the water is a clean as possible when it reaches the treatment plant.

The first step is to filter suspended matter such as fish, plankton and bacteria.

Even this part of the process requires intense filtration because much of the sea life that ends up at Ashkelon is as tiny as one micron, or one-1000th of a millimetre, Taub says.

Then chemicals are added and the water is filtered again to remove particles.

"But it's still very salty although much clearer, so the desalination then begins with a system of very, very fine filters," Taub says.

Using the plant's 40,000 membranes, the water is pushed through into two streams depending on its salt content. The water is desalinated again before it comes out stripped of pretty much everything.

But, Taub says, "it's not so healthy to drink water without any ions at all".

"So the last part is to reharden the water and put the minerals back. This includes calcium, carbonates, sulfates and sulfuric acid. Then you have a very high grade of drinking water, closer to mineral water."

Hence the taste.

The seawater that Ashkelon takes has 35 grams of salt in every litre, not as salty as the Saudi Arabian water supply, which has 45 grams a litre.

The brine sucked out of the seawater goes straight back into the ocean and the plant's operator says the water around the plant is constantly monitored to see the effect it is having on sea life.

But the Middle East chapter of the international environment group Friends of the Earth says the "dumping" of the brine straight back into the ocean is likely to affect sea life, although it is still too early to tell how significant it will be.

A report done by the group argued it would be cheaper and more environmentally benign to invest in upgraded sewage treatment, encouraging water saving and reducing the amount of fresh water used by agriculture.

It is also concerned about privatising water.

"Placing control of water production, supply and management into private hands is contrary to public interest as it turns this basic human resource into a commodity like any other consumption good," the report said.

Desalination was a more expensive way of securing water, it found, and had other problems such as air pollution and the amount of land needed for the plants.

But this is no deterrent to the Israeli Government, which plans to increase desalination production in the coming years from its present 15 per cent of all drinking water to 20 per cent.

See - SMH - Seawater worth bottling.

Global warming forces barramundi to flee south ...

... or so says the Qld Natural Resources Minister.

See - Barra flee global warming.

Does Iemma know where the Gold Coast is ...

Morris Iemma's views on desalination plants and the one being constructed on the Gold Coast:

Mr Iemma said he was not prepared to "gamble" on climate change scientists being wrong. He pointed to desalination plants being built in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.

See - Beattie's desal plant - you mean it's not in Brisbane.

Desalination myths or facts ...

NSW State Government v. Sutherland Shire Council:

See - Desal - myth or facts.

Dr Keller - every major Aussie city will drink recycled water ...

Called a 'bold prediction' by some, Dr Keller goes out on a limb to predict that every major Australian city will be drinking recycled water in 20 years.

See - Cosmos magazine - Keller predicts.

Working with the SEQ water grid is obviously keeping Dr Keller busy as he doesn't seem to be keeping up with plans to build a number of desalination plants around Australia.

Still, if he is right, his IWES training business will do well ...

Big Dry extinguished in a week ...

Excerpt from the Daily Telegraph:

Big Dry extinguished in a week

28 June 2007

A week ago they were in the grip of one of the worst droughts they had ever faced.

But yesterday Goulburn residents were bracing themselves for a second night of storms, which have filled their empty dams and flooded parts of town.

The town's two municipal dams – Pejar and Sooley – are at more than 50 per cent capacity. Last week they were at 12 per cent and the town had only enough water to last one more year.

Goulburn has now experienced its wettest June since 1997, with more than 170mm falling so far this month.

See - Goulburn's big wet.

Great photos ...

Deputy Mayor Ramia - I don't want to be Mayor ...

In yet another sign of the impending shakeup of councillor positions at the Toowoomba City Council, Deputy Mayor Ramia is quoted today as saying he 'wasn't interested in the mayoralty'.

It is common knowledge in Toowoomba circles that the Deputy Mayor has long held aspirations of getting the top job once the current Mayor moved on.

Seem things have changed.

Perhaps the rigours of the water debate have tired the Deputy Mayor.

Perhaps he knows that you can't threaten people, leave the evidence for all to hear, and still expect people to vote for you.

It's not too hard to determine the precise moment when any possibility of running for the top job became a pipe dream ...

Goulburn - Sooley Dam overflows ...

How quickly things can change.

Excerpt from ABC News:

From dry to wet in Goulburn

27 June 2007

There has been flooding and snow in the Goulburn district of New South Wales.

Police are assessing more than 12 local roads which were closed yesterday when creeks rose.

A duty officer with the Goulburn State Emergency Service, Lee Brown, says crews are also checking road conditions after snow early this morning.

"The unit at Captain's Flat said very heavy falls of snow in their area and across to Bungendore and apparently between them and the ACT," he said.

Goulburn's Sooley Dam is now full and has flowed over the top of the new wall, providing some breathing space for the city's critical water shortage.

Goulburn Mayor Paul Stephenson says the recent rainfall has had a big impact on the city's water supply.
...

"Sooley Dam, which is the smaller of our two dams, I think it overflowed over the top of the new wall, so that gives us a tremendous amount of breathing space, but we don't [know] about the inflows into Pejar at this stage," he said.

See - Goulburn - one dam full.

Maybe the Mayor will pull the plug on it again ...

Power firms probe desalination ...

Excerpt from the Age:

Power firms probe desalination

27 June 2007

Latrobe Valley power companies are investigating desalination as a solution to long-term water shortages that threaten electricity supplies.

A draft feasibility study, commissioned by the State Government and the power companies, has explored a range of options including the use of desalinated water, dry cooling systems and direct use of sea water (not desalinated).

The study was carried out by consultants Sigma Energy Solutions, and power stations were developing their own business cases, said Loy Yang Power's general manager of power and environment, Richard Elkington.

Sigma has developed dry cooling systems for power generators in Queensland.

Premier Steve Bracks has said that a proposal announced last year to replace the drinking water now used by the Latrobe Valley power generators with 100 billion litres of recycled water annually from Melbourne Water's eastern treatment plant will proceed.

But it is believed that this proposal has lost favour with some power companies, which prefer desalination or dry cooling as easier, cheaper and safer options.
...

See - Power stations - desal is easier, cheaper and safer.

Recycled water problems - Hyundai recalls cars ...

... switches from recycled water to tap water.

Seems even cars are having problems with recycled water.

Excerpt from Chosum.com:

Hyundai Recalls Sonata, Grandeur Over Radiator Glitch

27 June 2007

Research by the Korea Consumer Protection Board found that cooling water can form foreign substances in the radiators of Hyundai Motor's medium-size Sonata NF sedan and the medium-large Grandeur TG. Foreign substances can form in all Sonata NF and Grandeur TG cars produced from the vehicle’s first day of production until the end of May.

Hyundai apparently knew of the problem but continued producing the vehicles without improvement for three or four years.

The consumer watchdog said Tuesday it found a white substance in cooling water or cooling water turning yellow in 13 out of 15 Sonata NFs tested and six of eight Grandeur TGs. The board ordered Hyundai Motors to address them.

“There was no problem in examination of cooling performance and cooling water related parts. However, we need to keep an eye on whether there is any problem especially when vehicles run for a long time,” the board said.

Hyundai Motor said the problem was due to inadequate management of the water that is blended with an antifreeze solution at its Asan Plant.

“Since May 22, the plant has improved the management of plant water by changing the water from recycled water to tap water supplied by Asan city.”

Hyundai Motor is offering a free replacement of cooling water to owners who report the formation of foreign substances in 275,000 Sonata NFs produced between Aug. 18, 2004 and May 21, 2007 and 173,000 Grandeur TGs produced between May 13, 2005 and May 21, 2007.

This offer is good until June 17, 2008.

See - Recycled water affecting Hyundai cooling systems.

Goodbye Councillor Di ...

(with sincere apologies to Elton John and Bernie Taupin)

Goodbye Councillor Thorley
Though I never knew you at all
You created a racket most unholy
While all the pollies covered their smalls.

They flew over from the US
And they whispered into your brain
They set you on a treadmill
And they tempted you with fame.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a spokesman of big firms
Never knowing who to cling to
When other water options were learned
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was not kindred
Your time in office dried up long before
The water ever did.

Getting referendum votes was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Big water looked for a saviour
And falling short was the price you paid.

Even when you leave
Oh the press will still hound you
All the papers have to say
Is that your project ended in the loo.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a woman without doubt
Never knowing who to cling to
When the truth came out
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was not kindred
Your time in office ran out long before
The water ever did.

Goodbye Councillor Di
From the silent yet angry majority
Who saw you as less of a saviour
But as someone with an approval down below forty.

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like someone who might have enjoyed a win
Never knowing who to cling to
When the No votes poured in
And I would have liked to have known you
But I was not kindred
Your time in office dried up long before
The water ever did ...

Mayor Thorley - it wasn't supposed to end like this ...

It was supposed to be the time of the victory lap around Wetalla, proudly showing off the completed visitors' centre and recycled water plant, offering people sips of "Thorley Water".

It was supposed to be the time (almost) for celebrating the commencement of the recycled water testing period in Cooby Dam.

It was supposed to be about being inundated with requests to speak at conferences and opportunities to help other councils with their recycled water plans.

Why did it all go so wrong?

First, you can't bully the public. You can try but it's unlikely in local government politics that you will succeed. You can't tell people they'll be sacked if they don't vote Yes. You can't threaten to withdraw funding for community events.

Second, you can't lie to the public. In this age of the internet, soon or later (sooner in this case), your lies will be exposed. You can't hold closed door meetings and hope the public won't find out. You can't claim 70% support when you don't have it.

Third, you can't resist FOI documentation requests - it only makes the public want the documents even more.

Fourth, you can't tell the public they are morons if they don't agree with you - they are the ones who vote you in and out of office.

Fifth, you can't make the cornerstone of your cause a document which does not exist.

Sixth, you have to do your homework. You can't propose a project which has no possible chance of ever working for the money you suggest and no chance of ever being built in the manner you suggest.

Seventh, you can't stack the game. You can't vote yourself all the money you want to publicise your cause while trying to starve your opponents of funds - it just makes them work harder.

And last, you need to figure out up front where your RO waste stream will go. Otherwise, you leave your opponents plenty of scope to drive a bus through your strategy and your numbers ...

BREAKING NEWS ... Mayor Thorley calls it quits ...

... or does she?

A week is a long time in politics so the time between now and the next Toowoomba City Council election is a lifetime.

But, based on today's events, 26 June 2007 will be a date forever etched in the minds of 62% of Toowoomba voters as the day Mayor Thorley finally recognised that the majority of the voters in Toowoomba do not believe her and do not want her as Mayor.

With a possible amalgamation of neighbouring shires to come, and with many voters in those shires unhappy at her standover tactics on the recycled water issue, it certainly looked like a hard sell for Mayor Thorley to win another term.

If Mayor Thorley does indeed intend to retire in March 2008, it is an early indication of the massive rout the voters of Toowoomba are likely to give those Councillors in favour of forcing Toowoomba people to drink recycled water.

Excerpt from WIN News:

MAYOR RESIGNS

26 June 2007

Di drops a bombshell

Toowoomba Mayor Di Thorley has dropped a bombshell in Council chambers late this afternoon, announcing she's walking away after seven years in the post.

Councillor Thorley's decision based on a family promise to only serve three terms.

See - Thorley sees the writing on the wall.

For those wanting to hear Mayor Thorley's views on life - see - Mayor Thorley speaks.

Comments have been opened - have your say on the end of Mayor Thorley's regime ...

Townsville - wettest June on record ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Townsville records wettest June

26 June 2007

Townsville in north Queensland has officially recorded its wettest June since records began in 1940.

Overnight rain has pushed figures for this month to 111 millimetres.

Townsville meteorologist Mario Torisi says the figure surpasses the previous record of 106.8 millimetres set in 1967.

See - Townsville - it rains and it rains.

Goulburn floods - prepares for evacuation ...

Excerpt from ABC News:

Goulburn residents urged to ready for evacuation

26 June 2007

After years of drought in Goulburn in the New South Wales south-east, the State Emergency Service (SES) is warning people living in the suburb of Eastgrove to be ready for possible evacuation tonight due to flooding.

The Mulwaree River is continuing to rise and the Goulburn golf course, the Park Road playing fields and adjoining areas are underwater.The SES Southern Highlands region controller, Tony Casey, says people living in Eastgrove should be on alert and check on their neighbours.

"Residents, particularly residents of Eastgrove, should take precautions about getting themselves ready should the need to evacuated become apparent later on tonight," he said.

"They should gather important personal documents and mementos to take with them should they should the need to evacuate be required, and any special medicine they may require."

"But most importantly listen to local radio stations for further information."

Wasn't it never going to rain again ...

Beattie plans mobile desal ship to share with other states ...

... they will say no - because they are sensible enough to build their own desalination plants.

The latest weird suggestion from Premier Beattie.

Excerpt from Courier Mail:

Mr Beattie said a desalination plant mounted on a ship could be moved around Australia to other drought-affected regions.

The Premier said he would talk to other states and the Commonwealth to check their interest.

See - Beattie desal ship to tour Australia.

QWC - stacked full of merchants of spin ...

Criticism yesterday of the bloated QWC and its spin merchant division - accounting for 25% of QWC staff and a lot of the blowout of annual costs to $18 million.

Excerpt from ABC News:

Water Commission budget spent on spin doctors: Seeney

25 June 2007

Queensland Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney has accused the Beattie Government of blowing the Water Commission's budget on spin doctors.

Mr Seeney says the Water Commission cost $18 million to run last year, which was nine times more than Premier Peter Beattie originally promised.

He says money is being wasted on public relations and spin doctors.

"Almost a quarter of the staff that the Water Commission employ are employed in that area of marketing and communications," he said.

"That would seem excessive to me."

Mr Beattie says staff levels have risen because the Water Commission is now an independent body with resources reallocated from other government departments.

See - QWC - hands up all those who aren't spin merchants.

If drinking recycled water is such a great idea, why does the QWC need so many merchants of spin ...

Beattie considers 100m ziplock bags to transport water to Qld ......

Excerpt from Sunday Mail:

Hunt is on to beat drought

24 June 2007

The State Government will look at alternative emergency water supplies if drought extends into the next decade and if its current measures to not deliver enough water.

Premier Peter Beattie said an infrastructure briefing paper looked at options such as mobile and small fixed desalination plants, hauling treated and raw water from New Zealand and Tasmania, and enlarging the Tugun desalination plant.

One suggestion from a US company to the Government was to collect water in 100m-long zip-up bags and tow them by ship to drought-affected areas.
...

See - Courier Mail - Beattie looks for additional solutions - realises recycled water is not the answer.

Minister Turnbull's previous work comes back to haunt him ...

Read what's keeping Minister Turnbull busy when he's not trying to get people to drink recycled water.

See - SMH - Turnbull trio fails to cut size of HIH claim.

QWC accused of fudging water figures ...

See - Courier Mail - QWC fudging water figures.

Sydney desal plant tender winner announced ...

The winner - Blue Water Consortium consisting of John Holland, Sinclair Knight Mertz (SKM), Maunsell and Veolia.

See - Sydney desalination plant winner.

US - scientists criticize EPA chemical screening program ...

Excerpt from The Dallas Morning News:

Scientists criticize EPA chemical screening program

27 May 2007

Experts worry agency's program will miss harmful effects on hormones; agency counters program developed in an open manner

Scientists say the Bush administration is developing a chemical testing program that favors the chemical industry when it comes to judging whether certain substances in the environment might cause cancer, infertility, or harm to babies in the womb.

What's billed as one of the most comprehensive screening programs ever to check whether chemicals can disrupt human hormones, scientists say, may instead prove to be a misleading $76 million waste.

Federal officials defend the program, which aims to identify so-called "endocrine disruptors."

They say that no tests can cover everything, and that the process of setting up the program has been open and transparent.

The critics agree that much is known about the tests – and, they say, the publicly available information is precisely what causes their concern.

They say the Environmental Protection Agency has:

• Allowed lab tests, using rodents, that are so badly designed, they're almost certain to miss harmful chemicals. For instance, the EPA favors using a breed of rat that is relatively insensitive to several known hormone-disrupting chemicals. And the EPA plans to allow those rats to be fed chow that could mask the effect of some chemicals.

• Failed to guarantee that tests will be conducted on prenatal exposure to chemicals. Last week, a group of 200 scientists signed a declaration warning that exposure to chemicals in the womb may make babies more likely to develop diabetes, obesity, attention deficit disorder and infertility. The group urged action from governments around the world.

• Demanded the wrong dosage range, also raising the odds that harmful effects will be missed.

• Said it might allow chemical companies to tailor certain aspects of the tests.

"If your objective is not to find anything, that's the perfect way to do it," said Fred vom Saal, a developmental biologist at the University of Missouri.

The National Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, says the EPA is bending to special interests.

"There certainly is industry influence," said Dr. Sarah Janssen, a reproductive biologist with the group in San Francisco. "What really is driving [the decisions] is the industry focus of the administration. That's why the EPA listens to them."

EPA officials respond that they have developed the program – called the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program – in an open manner to protect it from special interests.

"You're always going to find people that think their issue is not given appropriate attention," said EPA biologist James Kariya, a coordinator of the screening program. "But if anything, this program has been very transparent, very open."

EPA officials say the agency has thoroughly and openly considered the test animal, test dose and animal chow issues. As for allowing the chemical industry to make decisions on how to test chemicals, the EPA said it is not worried about foul play.

"There are dishonest people, but that's not the experience with the community that we've been working with," Mr. Kariya said.

The EPA plans to begin chemical screening in 2008.

Wildlife abnormalities

Scientists began to suspect that manmade chemicals could interfere with hormones in the 1960s. Since then, scientists have documented wildlife abnormalities in areas contaminated with industrial chemicals.

For example, in a Florida lake contaminated with pesticides, male alligators produced female levels of testosterone, made abnormal sperm and had stunted sex organs. In ponds across the Midwest, male frogs are making eggs. Lab studies point to the herbicide atrazine as the culprit.

In seagull eggs exposed to the pesticide DDT, male chicks hatched with sex organs that were part female.

In all these cases, manmade chemicals interfered with the creatures' sex hormones, blurring the line between male and female.

Lab studies have also established that hormone-disrupting chemicals can cause abnormalities in mammals, namely rats and mice. And some studies have made correlations – but not cause-and-effect links – between hormone-disrupting chemicals and human deformities. As one example, reproductive organ abnormalities in baby boys track with levels of known hormone-disrupting chemicals in their mothers, according to 2005 research led by a scientist at the University of Rochester in New York.

Based on these multiple lines of evidence, researchers suspect long-term effects on people – such as lower sperm counts, abnormal genitals, infertility and cancer.

The Dallas-based Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has also shown concern, recently funding a research institute to compile research articles connecting hormone-disrupting chemicals to breast cancer.

But because it's impractical – not to mention unethical – to do experiments on people, human effects are hard to assess.

As part of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, Congress ordered the EPA to come up with an animal-screening program to see if pesticide chemicals had the potential to interfere with hormone systems in people. Substances such as those used in industrial processes or found in consumer products could also be tested at the EPA's request.

A few hormone-disrupting chemicals have already received attention in the media or from scientists, including bisphenol A and DES.

In one high-profile effort, the city of San Francisco failed to ban the sale of toys and child-care products made with bisphenol A, which is also found in the linings of some food cans. DES, or diethylstilbestrol, an anti-miscarriage drug, caused infertility and uterine cancer in women whose mothers took it during pregnancy. The drug is no longer used.

Yet it's unknown how many of the 80,000 registered chemicals are hormone disruptors. The EPA has already decreed safe levels for some chemicals, such as bisphenol A, although many scientists think the agency's levels are too high.

The 1996 act said the EPA had to implement the program within three years, but testing still has not begun. When the National Resources Defense Council sued the EPA for missing the deadline, the EPA said it interpreted "implement" to include validating the lab assays for the program, a process that is still ongoing.

Legislators have taken notice.

"Over 10 years ago, Congress passed two laws ordering EPA to test chemicals to see whether they are endocrine disruptors, but EPA has dragged its feet and failed to test even a single chemical under this program," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee.

"The time has come for EPA to test chemicals for these toxic effects and to ban or severely restrict toxins that can disrupt our hormone systems."

Even though delays are frustrating and the program is criticized, some environmentalists say the testing needs to proceed.

"There is never going to be a perfect program," said the Dr. Janssen of the National Resources Defense Council.

"Imperfect testing is better than no testing at all. To further delay it is not being of any use."

The EPA now anticipates that the first round of tests, on an initial battery of 50 to 100 chemicals, will begin early next year.

The success of any chemical screening program, scientists point out, lies in the design of the assays. Just as a doctor can't hear an erratic heartbeat with a broken stethoscope, lab tests that aim to pick up hormone-like chemicals simply won't if the tests aren't sensitive enough.

But what's sensitive enough for the EPA is far from enough in the minds of many independent researchers.

Doses of chemicals

The problems start, scientists say, with the doses of chemicals to be tested. It makes sense to most people that higher doses of a toxic chemical are the worst, and, as levels drop, effects diminish. That's what toxicologists had always assumed, and the EPA program is designed along that thinking. Proposed tests require starting with the highest dose that can be tolerated and dropping down a few notches from there.

That may be fine for what people think of as typical poisons, like lead or mercury, but it doesn't work for chemicals that interfere with hormones, researchers say.

"We need to put traditional toxicology on the back burner and find a better approach," said Theo Colborn, a zoologist with the University of Florida and president of the Endocrine Disruption Exchange, an independent research group.

Dr. Colborn was one of the first scientists to recognize that chemicals leaching into the environment were disrupting hormones in wildlife. "The assays that the EPA has proposed are still based on high doses."

Counter to what one might expect, hormones can have unexpected effects at lower doses, recent studies have found.

"Endocrine disruptors affect the endocrine system," said Wade Welshons, a biologist at the University of Missouri. And in that system, he said, "the lowest levels are the ones that are the most important."

For example, scientists have found that while high neonatal doses of the former anti-miscarriage drug DES cause weight loss in mice, low doses cause obesity later in life. Rat experiments on DEHP, a phthalate found in plastics and other consumer products, show that low doses suppress an enzyme needed for proper development of the male brain. High doses stimulate the enzyme.

Dr. Welshons says that even the well-known drug tamoxifen, given to treat certain breast tumors, is known to have opposite effects at different levels in the body. When a woman first starts taking tamoxifen and levels in the body are still low, the drug can actually cause a tumor to "flare," or grow. Only when levels build does tamoxifen slow tumor growth.

The doses to be tested under the EPA program are too high if the goal is to detect chemicals that interfere with hormones, say Dr. Welshons and other scientists. The EPA program will miss many low-dose effects, he said.

"You can't start from the top and go down," Dr. Welshons said. "You have to start from the bottom and go up."

In response to assertions that the agency is not testing at low enough doses, EPA officials cited conclusions from a 2001 National Toxicology Program report examining the evidence for low-dose effects of hormones.

The EPA stated in 2002 that, because of conflicting study results, "it would be premature to require routine testing of substances for low-dose effects in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program."

Richard Becker, a toxicologist with the American Chemistry Council, which represents the chemical industry, also dismissed the idea that hormone-like chemicals can have effects at low doses as not reproducible.

But since the agency's 2002 statement, dozens of research articles have been published showing that low doses of hormone-disrupting chemicals can have profound effects in rats and mice. EPA officials also said that using additional doses that would extend into the low-dose range would make assays cumbersome.

"You really are limited to a certain number of doses," Mr. Kariya said. Also, he added, "you don't want to be using lots and lots of doses for animal welfare concerns."

Rat chow

Problem No. 2, say critics of the EPA program, is the chow that the lab rats will eat. Typical rodent chows use soy as a protein source, and soy naturally contains compounds called phytoestrogens. These compounds are known to interfere with natural hormones. And, as endocrine disruptors themselves, the phytoestrogens can mask the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals the program is supposed to pick up.

The EPA said it would probably cap the level of two major phytoestrogens. But critics say the chosen level could easily mask some weaker ­ but nevertheless dangerous – hormone-disrupting chemicals.

"You use these diets, your chances of missing something are much greater," said Julius Thigpen, head of the Quality Assurance Laboratory at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Dr. Thigpen was one of the first scientists to publicize findings that phytoestrogens in chow can make or break an experiment.

"Who in their right mind would want to use it?" she asked.

Researchers say there is no easy solution to the chow problem. Even chows that are soy-free contain chemicals that mimic estrogen, and there is a lot of batch-to-batch variation in hormone-like chemicals in any given chow formula. But in the absence of a perfect chow, scientists say, the EPA could at least demand that assays be conducted with lower phytoestrogen levels.

Dr. Becker of the American Chemistry Council noted that his organization funded a study that the EPA used in setting the limit of phytoestrogen levels. "The whole question of phytoestrogens and diet has been answered," he said.

A member of a committee that advises the EPA on the screening program said that fine control of the chow formulas isn't necessary.

"People seem to forget what the purpose of the tests are," said Paul Foster, a toxicologist at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Before working as a government scientist, Dr. Foster worked in the agrochemical and pharmaceutical industry.

"There are times where you should be careful and go to the extra expense, but I'm not sure that this is one of those times. This is for a yes-or-no answer."

The EPA's Mr. Kariya acknowledged that, given the complexity of rodent diets and how they affect body functions, the agency didn't know what the best chow is.

"We don't really know enough about the complex materials in feeds to know what makes a difference and what doesn't," he said. "To some extent, there's a resource issue for testing all the combinations of feed. That becomes an unmanageable feat."

The EPA's statements come at a time when the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences is preparing a meeting summary warning researchers that many experiments, particularly those designed to measure effects of hormones, may be compromised when researchers unknowingly feed their rodents chow loaded with phytoestrogens.

Rat breed

The EPA says it will likely recommend that tests be done on a breed of rat known as the Sprague-Dawley (CD) rat. But there are many complaints about that choice. First, many scientists consider the Sprague-Dawley (CD) rat a sort of super-rat when it comes to hormone studies.

"It is an extremely bizarre animal," said Missouri's Dr. vom Saal. For some known hormone disruptors, "it is essentially unresponsive ... this is an animal that you would never use." It's possible that chemicals that are harmful to people may not register with the Sprague-Dawley (CD) rat, scientists have said.

"I am concerned that if we test the safety of chemicals on King Kong, we may underestimate their effects on you, me and Bambi," said Jimmy Spearow, a reproductive and toxicological geneticist at the University of California, Davis, in an e-mail interview.

And using a single strain of rat is a bad decision, too, Dr. Spearow said. In an EPA-requested document on choice of test animal, Dr. Spearow unsuccessfully urged the EPA to require testing several strains of animals.

People have a broad range of genetic variability, and one person's genetic makeup may make them especially sensitive to certain hormone-disrupting chemicals. Using a single strain of rat means that scientists are evaluating chemicals on a narrow slice of the genetic pie.

Using the Sprague-Dawley (CD) rat, Dr. Spearow said, "could legitimize levels of chemicals that could be detrimental to sensitive individuals."

The American Chemistry Council acknowledges that there was no perfect lab animal.

"There are always tradeoffs," Dr. Becker said. But the tests that the EPA has chosen have been validated on the Sprague-Dawley rats, he said.

And the EPA, for its part, said that it didn't necessarily agree with Dr. Spearow's argument that using multiple strains of rats would be better than using one strain. Mr. Kariya said more time and research would be needed to determine which strains to use – time the EPA said it did not have.

"Given the implementation of the screening program, we felt best to move forward," he said.

Industry influence

Although the EPA is leaning toward recommending the Sprague-Dawley (CD) rat, it may not require that the rat be used. The EPA said it is considering allowing chemical companies to decide which rat strain to test.

If that's the case, scientists wonder, what prevents a company from the choosing the breed that's least sensitive to its chemical?

"If they can go through and pick what strain they want," said Dr. Spearow, "that would be an absolute disaster."

But Mr. Kariya said he doesn't think a company would select a strain that serves its own financial interests.

"You're talking about people who want to game the program," he said. "We believe they will give us the information we are looking for."

Prenatal exposure

Scientists also want to investigate whether a pregnant animal's exposure to hormone-disrupting chemicals can harm the offspring. Next week, the EPA said, a scientific advisory board will send its recommendations on whether to include a prenatal assay in the first or second phase of the program.

If the test goes into the second phase, chemicals that pass the first phase would never be tested for fetal effects. This troubles some scientists, since recent studies suggest that certain fetal exposures can set the stage for cancer later in life and that fetal exposures can often affect not only an animal's "children" but also its grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

If the test is relegated to the second phase, "the possibility is that they're not going to pick up anything," said Retha Newbold, a biologist with the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. "Then we're not covering the unborn fetus."

Remaining issues

The complaints about the EPA program don't end with scientific issues. Crucial decisions remain, such as how to weigh conflicting evidence for a particular chemical – say if some tests show problems and other tests do not.

Other complaints include soliciting opinions from people who may have financial interest in the outcome of the tests. For instance, when the EPA solicited a white paper on which strain of animal to use, they went to a toxicologist who works for a company that does testing for the chemical industry.

"The livelihood of their company is completely dependent on ... good relationships with the chemical companies," said Missouri's Dr. Welshons.

Researchers disappointed with the screening program say they anticipate legal battles over any decisions unfavorable to the chemical industry.

"Once the tests are in place, there will be a whole new fight about which chemicals will be covered," said Dr. Ted Schettler, a physician with the Science and Environmental Health Network, and former member of a committee advising the EPA on the screening program. And as far as research goes, the public will have to rely on individual scientists' work to discover whether chemicals are harmful.

"Individual research groups will show effects, and chemicals will have to be removed one at a time," said Missouri's Dr. Welshons. "In spite of having passed the EDSP."

See - Scientists criticize EPA chemical screening program.

WHAT IS THE EDSP?

The Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program, being developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is a battery of lab tests to check whether thousands of manmade chemicals are endocrine disruptors. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that, in people and in wildlife, can interfere with natural hormones, including estrogen, testosterone and thyroid hormones. Known endocrine disruptors have been shown – either in laboratory or natural settings – to cause lower fertility, abnormal reproductive organs and cancer.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

A variety of lines of evidence suggest that chemicals found in the environment – from plastics, pesticides, cosmetics and other sources – may be interfering with natural hormonal processes in wildlife and people. In 1996, Congress passed a law requiring the EPA to determine whether pesticides and possibly other chemicals are endocrine disruptors.

WHERE DOES THE EDSP STAND?

With input from government, independent, university and chemical industry scientists, the EPA has developed and standardized some of the lab assays to screen the chemicals; it is still working on others. The EPA says it hopes chemical screening will begin in 2008.

WHY ARE SCIENTISTS CONCERNED?

A large number of independent scientists – working at universities or in federal research labs – have said the proposed lab assays may miss harmful chemicals. Choices of test lab animal and their diet, as well as the chemical dose range to be tested, are stacked toward missing rather than detecting any harmful effects, scientists say.

Researchers Find New Pharmaceuticals in Texas Waters ...

Excerpt from exduco.net:

Researchers Find New Pharmaceuticals in Texas Waters

16 May 2007

Baylor University researchers announced on May 1 they have found the residue of three new human medications in fish living in the Pecan Creekin North Texas.

The pharmaceuticals, which have not been previously identified in fish, are: diphenhydramine, an over-the-counter antihistamine also commonlyused as a sedative in nonprescription sleep aids and motion sickness; diltiazem, a drug for high blood pressure; and carbamazepine, a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.

Residue of norfluoxetine, the active metabolite of the antidepressant fluoxetine, also was detected in this study, confirming results of a previous project by the researchers.

"These results demonstrate the increasing need to consider bioaccumulation of emerging contaminants in the environment," said Dr. Kevin Chambliss, an assistant professor of chemistry at Baylor, who is a co-lead investigator on the project.

"This research proves fish are being exposed to multiple compounds in our waterways."

Most of the water in Pecan Creek is effluent from an upstream wastewater treatment facility.

The data suggests there is not a human health concern, the researchers said. However, exposure to the compounds may produce adverse effects in fish.

For example, high levels of antidepressants, like fluoxetine, in fish are known to cause behavioral changes, which impact aggression, feeding rate and other behaviors necessary for fish survival.

"The effects of these three new compounds on fish are still not well understood, but it could be important to an emerging area of science," said Dr. Bryan Brooks, an assistant professor of environmental and biomedical studies at Baylor who is an environmental toxicologist and aco-lead investigator on the project.

"The pharmacological properties of these compounds in humans will likely provide an indication of their specific effects in fish."

Although treated wastewater may meet current federal testing standards, no guidelines or federal water quality criteria exist for pharmaceuticals, Brooks said.

To test the collected fish tissue for pharmaceuticals, Chambliss and Alejandro Ramirez, a Baylor doctoral student in chemistry who is the lead author on the study, developed a new method using a technology called liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. This technique can, for the first time, screen fish for several groups of drugs at th esame time.

Researchers said previous tests for detecting pharmaceutical and personal care products in tissues of aquatic organisms focused only on identification of individual medications or classes of medications like antidepressants. The new test created by Baylor researchers can screen up to 25 different drugs, representing multiple therapeutic classes, the researchers said. The 25 compounds were chosen based on their relative frequency in the environment, as well as the variability of their structures and physicochemical properties.

See - Researchers Find New Pharmaceuticals in Texas Waters.

WA and Qld - leaked reports - a tale of two states ...

Leak a confidential report in WA and face possible jail time:

Disgraced Western Australian lobbyist Julian Grill has been stripped of his special access to State Parliament indefinitely and will have to apologise or face possible jail time over the leaking of a confidential report.

See - WA consequences.

Leak a confidential report in Qld and who cares - certainly not the person who leaked it:

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie today admitted leaking a confidential report recommending Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley be charged over a Palm Island death in custody.

Mr Beattie said he had released the report by former NSW chief justice Sir Laurence Street to The Courier-Mail in February - the day before Sen-Sgt Hurley was charged with the manslaughter and assault of Mulrunji Doomadgee.

At the time, Sen-Sgt Hurley's lawyer, the Queensland Police Union and Opposition Leader Jeff Seeney criticised the leak and Mr Beattie refused to confirm or deny he had been its source.

But today Mr Beattie confirmed he had released the report in its entirety to the newspaper.

"At that time I believed strongly that it was entitled to be released ... and I make no apology for it," he said.

See - Qld consequences - Beattie - I'll leak confidential reports and you can all get stuffed.

NWC - GHD report - research flaws ...

A review of the section on Toowoomba's failed project will follow.

But meanwhile - a brief note:

You have to wonder about any document which uses the Toowoomba City Council's one-sided propaganda-laden Water Futures website as a source document for some of its references. Something that would hardly stand up to 'peer-review'.

(See - NWC - GHD report.)

An example: in the section dealing with unplanned potable reuse examples, it quotes Dalby as an example stating that "Toowoomba discharges treated effluent into the Condamine River upstream of the drinking water extract point for Dalby" (See page 70).

While this is currently the case, Dalby obviously recognises that this is bad practice and has taken steps to develop 'best practice' for drinking water and the use of recycled water.

(See - Dalby opts for gas water.)

Dalby has State and Federal government funding to use treated coal seam gas water for its town water supply with recycled water to be used on its parks and gardens. Dalby is the model town for recycled water use.

So the GHD report uses some pretty dodgy references and fails to check its facts. A simple google search would establish that Dalby is moving away from its existing 'bad practices'.

But then again, maybe the report's authors didn't want to highlight this fact - it doesn't reflect well on their attempts to justify people drinking recycled water.

Just a thought ...

Eco-friendly toilets - not designed for the number 2s ...

Eco-friendly toilets gone wrong ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Flushed with the best intentions

21 June 2007

With mounting horror, customers at the Candana Designs fancy bathroom shop in Woollahra read the large sign erected in the toilet section: "To comply with Australian Standards all toilets are required to flush with a maximum of six litres of water. In order to comply with this regulation, manufacturers have reduced the size of the 'throat' inside the toilet pan. In most cases this necessitates using a toilet brush after flushing and flushing a second time."

In other words, to flush a toilet properly, you'll need to flush twice and use 12 litres of water - which is more than the amount used by the old nine-litre toilets with wider "throats", which are better at ingesting potential blockages.

Thousands of years of sanitation and a drought have brought us to this point: toilets that don't do what toilets are supposed to do. That famous 19th-century British pioneer of sanitary plumbing, Thomas Crapper, would be rolling in his grave.

Thanks to new federal regulations which came into force on January 1, it is now illegal to install a toilet that does not have a six-star water efficiency rating.

According to Marc Reed, managing director of Candana Designs, the feeble flush of the new eco-friendly toilet has made a lot of customers hopping mad.

"We've had numerous complaints from people who … are paying $2000 for a toilet … and say it's not flushing. The old toilets used to flush everything away. But with the six-litre, it only takes 80 per cent of the waste away and you have to flush it again - which means you're using more water than you used to."

As a result, Reed says, there is now a growing market for second-hand toilets.

While six-litre/three-litre flush toilets have been the norm for new houses for years, to the average consumer, new water-efficient toilets mean a lot more action with the toilet brush and the constant threat of blockages.

It's not a matter often referred to in polite company, but the toilet is nonetheless something Australians use, on average, five times a day, accounting for one quarter of household water use.

As those who have experienced a new eco toilet know, having to flush several times is not the worst of it. There is also the problem of what is known in the trade as "marking", as the water sits lower down the bowl, leaving exposed vast expanses of vitreous china.

A narrower throat also means more blockages.

If you happen to have an over-zealous user of toilet paper in your family, colloquially known as the "scruncher", this is inclined to happen regularly.


Often children will continually flush the toilet in an attempt to hide the evidence of their profligacy. The inevitable result is water that rises and rises and rises as you stare transfixed, feet stuck to the floor as it reaches the rim, and then subsides, or doesn't, in which case your feet are stuck to the floor in more ways than one. You can find yourself channelling Peter Sellers's character Hrundi V. Bakshi from The Party.

The water-conscious are fond of saying "if it's yellow, let it mellow", but if it's brown it's supposed to flush down, not erupt all over your bathroom floor.

Australia's foremost toilet expert is Dr Steve Cummings, head of research and development at Australian manufacturer Caroma, inventor of the dual flush toilet. In an interview this week that would make Kenny proud, he explained that Caroma has spent "hundreds of thousands of hours" designing its eco-friendly toilets, test-driving new designs at its Wetherill Park laboratory, where artificial materials are used to monitor the flush.

Unlike many imported brands, Caroma has not sacrificed throat size to increase suction. "We've put a lot of effort into fine-tuning the design of the pan and the cistern," he says. "If you design a toilet properly … if the toilet seat, the water surface area and the user are ergonomically aligned … the target area [should be hit]."

He does point out that much "depends on the diet" of the user, which may account for some of the "enormous problems" with blockages that occur in America.

Caroma's sales in the US have doubled in the past year, as water consciousness takes hold, and the old super-sized 20-litre American models are outlawed.

Cummings says he has had just a handful of complaints about Caroma's eco-friendly toilets.

"The toilet brush has been around since the 19th century," he says, not very sympathetically. "Some people just don't want to clean the toilet."

In the US, he warns, "they have plungers".

And there's much more to come. Caroma's Smartflush uses just 4.5 litres/three litres. Its new waterless urinal, the H2Zero Cube, last month won the Australian Design Awards' inaugural sustainability prize. Its secret is a one-way airtight valve that would save 2 million litres of water a year in the average office building.

Worried about the smell without water? There is a built-in deodoriser, activated by the heat of the urine. Hmmm.

As the rain pours down on Sydney this week, we are left with these absurd legacies of the drought, from small-throated toilets to dribbling showers to Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull's latest discussion paper about putting recycled sewage into our drinking water.

But no new dam for Sydney has emerged for discussion, as the population continues to grow.

Meanwhile, on the South Coast, at Braidwood and Hillview and Nerriga, near where the Welcome Reef Dam would have been built on the Shoalhaven River, rainfall recorded in the past 20 days was 150 millimetres, 181 millimetres and 274 millimetres respectively.

That would have been a nice start for a dam, not to mention saving wear and tear on the toilet brushes of the future.

See - Eco-friendly toilets - Flushed with the best intentions.

Sydney pushes ahead with desalination plans ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Desal plant to 'future-proof' water supply

21 June 2007

A major desalination plant, funded by higher residential water bills, will be built in Sydney regardless of how high the city's dams rise, the State Government says.

Dam levels today are set to rise to about 48 per cent, their highest in three years. But the Water Utilities Minister, Nathan Rees, said the Government's commitment to build a $1.9 billion plant to turn seawater into drinking water was not tied to dam levels.

"[Desalination] is not about this drought, it is about droughts in the future," Mr Rees said, dismissing renewed calls for more recycling and stormwater harvesting.

"Coastal cities need water independent of rainfall. With climate change, we have less ability to predict rainfall, we have a more and more complicated rainfall equation," he said.
...

See - Sydney agrees with Melbourne - opts for desal plant.

Sydney - dams hit 50% ...

Image: Fairfax publications.

... shows what a bit of rain can do.

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

As of 3pm [today], the city's dams were 50 per cent full, up 10.8 percentage points on the previous week thanks to heavy rainfall over the catchment. Last week's mark was 39.2 per cent.

See - Sydney dams up 10.8%.

Toowoomba City Council - Children contribute to global warming ...

... at least that's the suggestion of the diagram on the Council's website - maximum 2 children per family.

See - Toowoomba City Council connects children to global warming.

Is this an extension of China's one child policy ...

Drugs are in the water - does it matter ...

Excerpt from New York Times:

3 April 2007

Drugs Are in the Water. Does It Matter?

Residues of birth control pills, antidepressants, painkillers, shampoos and a host of other compounds are finding their way into the nation’s waterways, and they have public health and environmental officials in a regulatory quandary.

On the one hand, there is no evidence the traces of the chemicals found so far are harmful to human beings. On the other hand, it would seem cavalier to ignore them.

The pharmaceutical and personal care products, or P.P.C.P.’s, are being flushed into the nation’s rivers from sewage treatment plants or leaching into groundwater from septic systems.

According to theEnvironmental Protection Agency, researchers have found these substances, called “emerging contaminants,” almost everywhere they have looked for them.

Most experts say their discovery reflects better sensing technology as much as anything else.

Still, as Hal Zenick of the agency’s office of research and development put it in an e-mail message, “there is uncertainty as to the risk to humans.”

In part, that is because the extent and consequences of human exposure to these compounds, especially in combination, are “unknown,” the Food and Drug Administration said in a review issued in 2005.

And aging and increasingly medicated Americans are using more of these products than ever.

So officials who deal with these compounds have the complex task of balancing reassurance that they take the situation seriously with reassurance that there is probably nothing to worry about. As a result, scientists in several government and private agencies are devising new ways to measure and analyze the compounds, determine their prevalence inthe environment, figure out where they come from, how they move, where they end up and if they have any effects.

In many cases, the compounds enter the water when people excrete them or wash them away in the shower. But some are flushed or washed down the drain when people discard outdated or unused drugs. So a number of states and localities around the country have started discouraging pharmacies, hospitals, nursing homes and residents from disposing of drugs this way.

Some are setting up “pharmaceutical take-back locations”in drugstores or even police stations. Others are adding pharmaceuticals to the list of hazardous household waste, like leftover paint or insecticides, periodically collected for safe disposal, often by incineration.

For example, Clark County, Wash., has a program in which residents with unwanted or expired drugs can take so-called controlled substances, like prescription narcotics, to police stations or sheriffs’ offices for disposal. They can drop noncontrolled drugs at participating pharmacies,and 80 percent of the pharmacies in the county participate.

In guidelines issued in February, three federal agencies, including the E.P.A., advised people with leftover medicines to flush them down the drain “only if the accompanying patient information specifically instructs it is safe to do so.”

Otherwise, the guidelines say, they should dispose of them in the trash (mixed with “an undesirable substance” like kitty litter to discourage drug-seeking Dumpster divers) or by taking them to designated take-back locations.

Worries about water-borne chemicals flared last summer when researchers at the United States Geological Survey said they had discovered “intersex fish” in the Potomac River and its tributaries.

The fish, smallmouth and largemouth bass, were male but nevertheless carried immature eggs.

Scientists who worked on the project said they did not know what was causing the situation, or even if it was a new phenomenon. But the discovery renewed fears that hormone residues or chemicals that mimic them might be affecting creatures that live in the water.

In a survey begun in 1999, the agency surveyed 139 streams around the country and found that 80 percent of samples contained residues of drugs like painkillers, hormones, blood pressure medicines or antibiotics. The agency said the findings suggested that the compounds were more prevalent and more persistent than had been thought.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration started looking into the effects of residues of antibiotics and antiseptics in water, not just to see if they might affect people but also to assess their potential to encourage the development of drug-resistant bacteria.

Reports of contamination with pharmaceutical residues can be alarming, even when there is no evidence that anyone has been harmed.

In 2004, forexample, the British government reported that eight commonly used drugs had been detected in rivers receiving effluent from sewage treatment plants.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was “extremely unlikely” that the residues threatened people, because they were present in very low concentrations.

Nevertheless, news reports portrayed a nation of inadvertent drug users— “a case of hidden mass medication of the unsuspecting public,” as one member of Parliament was quoted as saying.

Christopher Daughton, a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency and one of the first scientists to draw attention to the issue, said P.P.C.P. concentrations in municipal water supplies were even lower than they were in water generally because treatments like chlorination andfiltration with activated charcoal alter or remove many chemicals.

Dr.Daughton, who works at the agency’s National Exposure Research Laboratory in Las Vegas, said he believed that if any living being suffered ill effects from these compounds, it would be fish and other creatures that live in rivers and streams.

Dr. Daughton and Thomas A. Ternes of the ESWE-Institute for Water Research and Water Technology in Germany brought the issue to scientific prominence in 1999, in a paper in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. They noted that pollution research efforts had focused almost exclusively on “conventional” pollutants — substances that were known or suspected to be carcinogenic or immediately toxic. They urged researchers to pay more attention to pharmaceuticals and ingredients inpersonal care products — not only prescription drugs and biologics, but also diagnostic agents, fragrances, sunscreen compounds and many other substances.

They theorized that chronic exposure to low levels of these compounds could produce effects in water-dwelling creatures that would accumulate so slowly that they would be “undetectable or unnoticed” until it was too late to reverse them.

The effects might be so insidious, they wrote, that they would be attributed to some slow-moving force like evolutionor ecological change.

Initial efforts concentrate on measuring what is getting into the nation’s surface and groundwater. The discharge of pharmaceutical residues from manufacturing plants is well documented and controlled, according to the E.P.A., but the contribution from individuals in sewage or septic systems “has been largely overlooked.”

And unlike pesticides, which are intentionally released in measured applications, or industrial discharges in air and water, whose effects have also been studied in relative detail, the environmental agency says, pharmaceutical residues pass unmeasured through wastewater treatment facilities that have not been designed to deal with them.

Many of the compounds in question break down quickly in the environment.

In theory, that would lessen their potential to make trouble, were it not for the fact that many are in such wide use that they are constantly replenished in the water.

And researchers suspect that the volume of P.P.C.P.’s excreted into the nation’s surface water and groundwater is increasing.

For one thing, per capita drug use is on the rise, not only with the introduction of new drugs but also with the use of existing drugs for new purposes and among new or expanding groups of patients, like children and aging babyboomers.

Also, more localities are introducing treated sewage into drinking water supplies.

Researchers who have studied the issue say there is no sign that pharmaceutical residues accumulate as water is recycled. On the other hand, the F.D.A. said in its review, many contaminants “survive wastewater treatment and biodegradation, and can be detected at low levels in the environment.”

Some say the spread of these substances in the environment is an example of how the products of science and technology can have unintended and unpredictable effects.

In their view, when the knowledge about these effects is sketchy, it is best to act to reduce risk, even if the extent of the risk is unknown, an approach known as the precautionary principle.

Joel A. Tickner, an environmental scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, says that it is a mistake to consider all of these compounds safe “by default,” and that more must be done to assess their cumulative effects, individually or in combination, even at lowdoses.

In his view, the nation’s experience with lead additives, asbestos andother substances shows it can be costly — in lives, health and dollars —to defer action until evidence of harm is overwhelming.

Others say the benefits of action — banning some compounds, say, or requiring widespread testing or treatment for others — should at least equal and if possible outweigh their costs.

“You have to somehow estimate as well as possible what the likely harms are and the likely benefits,” said James K. Hammitt, a professor ofeconomics and decision sciences at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

And while it is possible that some of the tens of thousands of chemicals that might find their way into water supplies are more dangerous in combination than they are separately, Dr. Hammitt said in an interview,“it’s perfectly possible that they counteract each other.”

Anyway, he said, assessing their risk in combination is a mathematical problem of impossible complexity.

“The combinatorics of this are truly hopeless.”

Given all this uncertainty, policy makers find it difficult to know what to do, other than continuing their research.

Studies of “the fate and transport and persistence” of the P.P.C.P.’s will allow scientists to make better estimates of people’s exposure to them, Dr. Zenick said, and “to assess the potential for human health effects.”

But even that normally anodyne approach comes under question because of something scientists call “the nocebo effect” — real, adverse physiological reactions people sometimes develop when they learn theyhave been exposed to something — even if there is no evidence it may beharmful.

“The nocebo effect could play a key role in the development of adverse health consequences from exposure even to trace elements of contaminantssimply by the power of suggestion,” Dr. Daughton wrote recently in a paper in a special issue of Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation, a publication of the National Ground Water Association, an organization of scientists, engineers and businesses related to the use of groundwater.

In fact, the idea that there are unwanted chemicals in the water supply has many characteristics that researchers who study risk perception say particularly provoke dread, regardless of their real power to harm.

The phenomenon is new (or newly known), and the compounds are invisible and artificial rather than naturally occurring.

But scientists at agencies like the Geological Survey say it is important to understand the prevalence and actions of these compounds, even at low levels. If more is known about them, agency scientists say, researchers will be better able to predict their behavior, especially if they should start turning up at higher concentrations.

Also, the Geological Survey says, tracking them at low levels is crucial to determining whether they have additive effects when they occur together in the environment.

Comprehensive chemical analysis of water supplies “is costly, extraordinarily time-consuming, and viewed by risk managers as prompting yet additional onerous and largely unanswerable questions,” Dr. Daughtonwrote in his paper last year.

But it should be done anyway, he said, because it is a useful way of maintaining public confidence in the water supply.

“My work is really categorized as anticipatory research,” he added. “You are trying to flesh out a new topic, develop it further and see where it leads you. You don’t really know where it leads.”

Mayor Thorley declares: we'll take Jondaryan Shire by 15 March ...

In a bold statement in today's Chronicle, Mayor Thorley has declared that the Toowoomba Showground, in Jondaryan Shire, will be part of Toowoomba by 15 March 2008.

The Mayor is clearly advocating a takeover of Jondaryan Shire (and other shires) with herself as 'uber-Mayor' from 2008 onwards.

She should remember the percentage of Jondaryan Shire residents who were opposed to her plans to make them drink recycled water. They will be voting in any amalgamated Council election, not having had the chance for a formal vote on her at the 2006 referendum.

The problem for Mayor Thorley is that with any annexed shire comes thousands of voters who think her autocratic style completely unsuitable and are prepared to say so at the ballot box ...

Sydney - more evidence of global warming ...

A very chilly Sydney with snow in Katoomba - see - Sydney's snow.

Water Services Australia - Melbourne desal plant effectively tackles climatic uncertainty ...

"As a prudent risk management, rainfall-independent sources such as desalination are going to be absolutely imperative for all coastal cities in the long run."

See - WSA approves of desal plants for all coastal cities.

CH2M Hill advise on Jondaryan Shire project ...

CH2M Hill moves onto the front line - advising Jondaryan Shire Council on its wastewater treatment plant with tenders called for the recommissioning of the bore fields, with the bore RO waste stream likely to supply New Acland Coal.

Mayor Thorley's plans for a recycled water plant in Toowoomba sink further into the (required) evaporation ponds ...

Excerpt from the Chronicle:

Bore project a step closer

16 June 2007

Jondaryan Shire Council this week took the next step towards $15 million in works involving the recommissioning of the Oakey bore field and the wastewater treatment plant.

CH2M Hill was awarded the tender for the detail design, construction, supervision and commissioning, with a bid of $928,900, for the Western Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant.
...

Final design for the plant, at the Nobbs family property south of Wellcamp Downs, is expected to be completed by November. Tenders will then be called for its construction.

Mayor Peter Taylor said the plant would be designed to service Westbrook, Glenvale, Torrington, Cotswold Hills and Charlton-Wellcamp.

"It will be scaleable to accommodate Drayton, in the city confines, if needed," he said.

Eleven submissions for the $6 million bore field project were short-listed back to three.

Amiad, Wendouree and ITT have been asked to tender for design, supply and commissioning.
...

Cr Taylor said key industries such as Oakey Army Aviation Centre and the abattoir would have allocations.

"So in the future - depending on what Toowoomba does and what the SEQ grid does - we have the opportunity for the future to treat more bore water if necessary," Cr Taylor said.

See also - Jondaryan Shire Council - Charlton-Wellcamp funding welcomed.

Educating the children - not quite what Mayor Thorley had in mind ...

Excerpt from Billings Gazette:

Teens examine effect of estrogen in water

6 April 2007

O.J. Simpson was the most aggressive of the bunch - until estrogen was added to his water.

Then, his lunging at his image in the mirror all but stopped and he no longer flared his gills at other fish. For a betta tropical fish, known for fighting other male bettas to the death, it was a radical change.

Mykal Eden and Joanita Mathews, both 17, couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but his change in behavior was what they were hoping for. As a science experiment, the two West High juniors introduced estrogen sulfate, and Bisphenol-A, an estrogen mimicker, to betta fish tanks to see if the chemicals would cause a change in behavior.

Their laid-back fish and all the work the girls did to get them that way earned first place at the recent Billings Clinic Science Expo regional science fair and an all-expenses-paid trip to the international science fair in Albuquerque.

Fifteen fish were used in the experiment. Five were exposed to estrogen sulfate, five were exposed to Bisphenol-A and five were used as a control group. All the tanks were labeled with an official number, but the girls ended up giving the fish names as they got to know them better and found that each had its own personality.

"We can remember their other names, but we gave them each pet names because it's really easier that way," Eden said.

Both estrogen sulfate and Bisphenol-A are found in some streams and groundwater, and have been shown to cause changes in fish reproductive systems, but no experiments have been done to see if the chemicals cause behavior changes.

Estrogen sulfate gets into groundwater primarily through human waste, specifically by women on birth control.

Bisphenol-A is a plastic manufacturing byproduct that is released into waterways.

Some white perch in the Great Lakes region have become asexual after exposure to Bisphenol-A in the streams there, and in Montana, estrogen sulfate has been linked to reproductive system mutations in fathead minnows.

Estrogen-contaminated water may even cause young girls to go into puberty at an early age.

Eden and Mathews didn't want to hurt the fish and wanted to simulate natural exposure to the chemicals, so they dissolved less than a tenth of a milligram of the chemicals in a liter of distilled water and added only a few drops ofthe solution to the 5-gallon jugs of clean water they used to fill the fishtanks.

"The tiny amount blew me away," Eden said. "Our biggest concern was that the small amount wouldn't have an effect."

To test aggression, they held mirrors in the water and counted the number of times the fish flared their gills.

"As long as the chemical is in their water system, their aggression goes down," Mathews said.The fish exposed to Bisphenol-A mellowed the most.

O.J. Simpson and all the other fish used for the experiment are on there bound now. Eden and Mathews stopped the estrogen drops and the fish are getting their fight back.

Eden and Mathews said the experiment has made them realize how fragile the environment is and how critical clean water is.

"It's the things you can't see that are having a big affect," Eden said."I think that if something isn't done about this, it's going to only get worse," Mathews said.

Though no positive link between Bisphenol-A contamination and the everyday use of plastics for eating and drinking has been made, it is a growing concern.

"It's something that's so overlooked," Mathews said.

See - Experiments are better than the Mayor marching us through the streets.

The push to desalinate - Victoria to build Australia's largest desalination plant ...

The list of planned, under construction or built desalination plants continues to grow:

- Perth
- South Australia
- Sydney
- Gold Coast

and now Melbourne.

Excerpt from news.com.au:

Victoria to build biggest desal plant

19 June 2007

The Victorian Government will build the country's largest desalination plant in the state's south and a 70km pipeline from the Goulburn area to boost Melbourne's water supply.

The desalination plant will be built in the Wonthaggi region, southeast of Melbourne, at a cost of $3.1 billion. It is expected to provide 150 billion litres of water a year for Melbourne, Geelong, Westernport and Wonthaggi.

The pipeline from the state's north will cost $750 million and is aimed at transferring 75 billion litres of water to Melbourne by 2010.
...

See - List of desalination plants grows.

Premier Beattie's push to force SEQ residents to drink recycled water is looking more and more like the ultimate way of capping interstate migration to the south east corner of Qld ...

CSIRO Sustainability Network Update - now is NOT the time for potable reuse ...

An excerpt:

Despite what is commonly assumed by equipment manufactures, some water engineers and politicians, the underlying processes in "membrane filtration" are still not fully understood – notably the uncanny ability of large life-based molecules to apparently undergo a form of metamorphosis to slip through nanometre-scale barriers.

Read the full update here - CSIRO Sustainability Network Update.

You can almost hear Pete and Anna groaning down in Brisbane that this paper has been widely circulated ...

Toowoomba City Council's grab for neighbouring shires ...

Read the Council's submission to Premier Beattie here - TCC letter - 24 May 2007.

Interestingly, on one of the maps, Council has marked New Acland Coal Mine as a 'probable Toowoomba water customer'.

That maybe the case, if Toowoomba City Council expands to cover the Oakey bores which are slated to provide water to New Acland Coal. There seems little chance that New Acland Coal will take any RO waste stream from any recycled water plant in Toowoomba.

But that probably doesn't stop Mayor Thorley dreaming ...

SEQ - furore over water tanks ...

Brisbane City Council drops rebates for tanks unless they are plumbed into homes.

Qld Labor government arm, QWC, refuses to comment on whether tanks are a waste of time.

See - Courier Mail - are water tanks a waste of cash?

Why the QWC is sitting on the fence:

- Outside residential water use accounts for around 30% of household use (in the absence of water restrictions).

- Using tanks for outdoor use only can reduce demand on city water supplies by around 30%.

- A 30% reduction in demand = 30% reduction in water sales and profitability.

- Such a reduction in demand makes the SEQ water companies less attractive for privatisation.

It's the same old story.

Councils forced ratepayers to get rid of their water tanks so they had to purchase their water, underscoring vastly profitable water sales.

As the Beattie government does its sums on privatising SEQ water, it knows that the water companies will be much more attractive to buyers if they can minimise tank use and maximise the sale of water.

It's the same as Indonesia in the mid-1990s when the French companies bribed their way in. Residents were no longer permitted to rely on bore water and were forced to buy water from the French.

Flash forward to say 2010 and it's the same likely scenario for SEQ - residents forced to buy water from Veolia as part of Beattie's SEQ water privatisation.

A little known fact - France does not permit foreign ownership of water supplies - they regard local ownership as being in the national interest. The French 'Big Water' companies have used their stranglehold on local water supplies to launch a takeover of water supplies around the world ...

Recycled water - Tanberg's view ...

Illustration - Ron Tanberg.

See - The Age on Tanberg.

Recycling sewage should be a last resort: expert ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Recycling sewage should be a last resort: expert

5 June 2007

The author of Australia's drinking water guidelines has stressed recycled sewage drinking water should be a last resort, warning that people could die if the system failed and there was an outbreak of disease.

Professor Don Bursill yesterday said he was not concerned about the technology, but human error.

He said six weeks ago in Spencer, Massachusetts, plant operators mistakenly released caustic soda into the town's water, causing a shutdown of supply.

More than 80 people were rushed to hospital, suffering burns and eye problems.

Professor Bursill, the CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment, said sewage had very high levels of human pathogens "alive and kicking and ready to infect people".

Professor Bursill told a Senate inquiry that international water expert Dr Steve Hrudey had analysed 98 water-borne disease outbreaks, including a disaster in Walkerton, Canada, when seven people died and 2300 became ill from E.coli. "Eighty per cent of the failures he recorded were not due to failures of technology … but were due to human error," he said.

These included lack of attention to operating procedures, lack of maintenance of critical equipment, poor operating training and deliberately suppressing information to avoid problems with regulators.

Professor Bursill said complacency was the biggest danger.

He said Australia's regulatory regime was not strong enough to guarantee the safety of a system sourced from sewage.

See - Dangers of recycled sewage.

SEQ pipeline - a case of Bligh fever ...

Further problems with the SEQ pipeline emerge with pipeline workers needing vaccinations for Q-Fever, something construction workers don't normally require.

Perhaps the workers need to be passed through RO membranes - nothing gets through them ...

Excerpt from Sunday Mail:

Q-Fever fear on pipeline

17 June 2007

Workers on the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project have been given a vaccination for a disease usually associated with meat workers.

Thirty pipeline workers assigned to the eastern section of pipe, which travels close to the Dinmore meatworks near Ipswich, were vaccinated for the disease called Q-Fever on May 24.

Q-Fever is associated with livestock and is a highly infectious sickness carried by animals and passed to humans.

The infection can be spread by direct contact with the body fluids of infected animals but also through the air, as the germ can survive for long periods even in harsh environments.

All meat workers are vaccinated against the disease, which causes a severe fever, chills, muscle pains, fatigue and severe headaches.

There had been rumours circulating that up to 20 pipeline workers had been infected by the fever.

But an official from the Department of Infrastructure has said that all workers have been inoculated against the disease.

"Thirsty workers were given the vaccination and one of them fainted with the needle, but nobody has actually contracted the disease," he said.

"The pipeline work is actually outside the Q-Fever zone so the vaccinations are a precaution."
The official also said the water quality in the pipeline will not be affected by the disease.

"The pipeline is underground and the water is under high pressure . . . we have no concerns."

See - Risk of SEQ pipeline worker infection.

LGAQ report - Beattie lying again - Councils won't collapse ...

Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:

Councils won't collapse, claims a report

17 June 2007

Claims by the state government that Queensland councils would collapse without amalgamations are baseless, according to a report commissioned by the peak local government authority.

The report, prepared for the Local Government Association by international receivers and administrators McGrath Nicol, examines financial sustainability reviews of councils undertaken by the Queensland government.

The reviews deemed 21 Queensland councils to be financially weak, and prompted the government to announce sweeping changes to councils.

It set up a Queensland Local Government Reform Commission to consider council boundary changes before the local government elections in March 2008.

It is now sorting through more than 36,000 submissions to its review, before reporting back in August.

The plans have been met with anger in rural and regional Queensland, where people are strongly opposed to small councils being amalgamated.

The McGrath Nicol report states that none of the councils rated "weak" by the government is insolvent.

"Similarly, the forecasts provided to us indicate the councils reviewed by us are unlikely to become insolvent within the forecast period (two to 10 years)," the report says.

Local Government Association of Queensland president Paul Bell said the report showed claims by Premier Peter Beattie of councils "going to the wall" were not true.

"I call on Premier Beattie to rethink his position on the need for forced amalgamations," Mr Bell said in a statement.

"If he cannot substantiate this need, then he should state the real reasons behind the rush to forcibly amalgamate councils."

See - Councils won't collapse.