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.
Excerpt from Sydney Morning Herald:
posted by Concerned Ratepayer at 6:33 AM
For many years, the 4350water blog has informed readers of plans by the Toowoomba City Council (now Toowoomba Regional Council) and the Qld government to introduce recycled water for drinking in Toowoomba. It has also looked at the issue from a State and Federal perspective and dealt with related State and Federal political issues. There continues to be a need for the Toowoomba Regional Council to be completely transparent in its dealings with the ratepayers and residents of Toowoomba. There also continues to be a need for open debate on the benefits and risks of potable reuse and long-term studies on the effects on humans of drinking recycled water. Coal seam gas water is emerging as a possible alternate water source for some uses for the region. The 4350water blog is a collective effort and thanks go to its many contributors.
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Sydney Morning Herald:
Rain hasn't washed away desal plans
February 8, 2008
The NSW government has no immediate plans to lift water restrictions and will go ahead with a multi-million dollar desalination plant despite recent heavy rains and dam levels over 60 per cent.
The CSIRO was forecasting reduced rainfall and more severe drought conditions in the coming 30 years, meaning NSW must augment its water supply or risk its economy, Emergency Services and Water Utilities Minister Nathan Rees said.
"Whilst intuitively all of us are attracted to things like trapping stormwater, the simple reality and the engineering reality is that it doesn't stack up," Mr Rees told ABC Radio.
"If we were to save only 20 per cent of the average annual rainfall in Sydney that means 150 reservoirs, each one the size of 20 Olympic swimming pools, at a cost of $6 billion.
"We've got what I consider to be the most comprehensive and robust water plan of any state in Australia. Our combination of the three biggest recycling schemes in Australia, more than 70 stormwater harvesting streams and of course the desal plant - that combination of measures sets us up for the next 60 years and gives us an extra 47 per cent capacity over and above what we currently have.
"As a measure for the long-term it (desalination) stacks up and it stacks up well."
While the government might consider a future easing of water restrictions, Mr Rees said some water saving measures, such as banning hosing of footpaths, would remain.
"When dam levels reach 65 to 70 per cent and the long-term projections for rainfall are that it will be average or above average, then at that stage we will give consideration to lifting some restrictions," he said.
"(Current) levels are actually artificially inflated because we are transferring some 60 per cent of our daily supply up from the Shoalhaven River and of course, we've obviously got water restrictions.
"In February last year when we were down in the low 30s if we hadn't been transferring water from the Shoalhaven and we hadn't had water restrictions on the previous two years, our water supply would have been down to 10 per cent and that's getting a bit scary."
There has been widespread community opposition to the government's planned $1.8 billion desalination plant at Kurnell in Sydney's south, which was initially due to be operating by the end of this year
9:51 AM, February 08, 2008
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