Debate flares up over south-east Qld recycled drinking water ...

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Debates flares up over SE Qld recycled drinking water

The World Today - 29 October 2008
Reporter: Annie Guest

ELEANOR HALL: Back home now, and as water authorities in Brisbane prepare to switch to recycled water, a water expert has raised concerns about its safety.

South-east Queensland will be plugged in to a new recycled water supply from early next year.

But Emeritus Professor Patrick Troy from the Australian National University warns the water could contain harmful bacteria.

Others though argue that safety checks built into water treatment plants will prevent any impurities from reaching consumers.

In Brisbane, Annie Guest reports.

ANNIE GUEST: It is a done deal, millions of dollars have been spent, south-east Queenslanders will be drinking recycled sewage water next year.

But if you thought the debate about recycled water was over, think again.

PATRICK TROY: Why take those risks, when there's so much contention and so much disagreement in the community about it. Why take that risk when you don't need to.

ANNIE GUEST: Patrick Troy is an emeritus professor of urban planning at the Australian National University.

He labels as scandalous the Queensland Government's abandonment of a proposed water referendum.

With dwindling rainfall and a surging population, it did away with a vote and began building facilities to treat and deliver purified recycled water and desalinated water.

A $9-billion water grid will ultimately connect the major centres of Brisbane, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

Toowoomba will also be plugged into the supply of up to 25 per cent recycled sewage water, despite voting 'no' to a local plan two years ago.

Professor Troy says two and half million south-east Queenslanders will face unnecessary health risks.

PATRICK TROY: The sewage treatment plants take out about 92 per cent of the waste material, that leaves at risk eight per cent. And the supposition is that once it's put in it will be diluted to yet a lower level of concentration which thereby reduces the risk to the population.

But I repeat, there is no long-term epidemiological research which suggests that this is a reliable, or that it ultimately is a cost effective way of providing a water service.

ANNIE GUEST: Now you say that there's no long-term research to prove that it is safe, but is it not proof enough that there are other cities in the world that have been using recycled drinking water for some time?

PATRICK TROY: No, it's not. Just because other people have accepted those risks, doesn't mean to say that those risks, that that risk is acceptable.

I just think that this is bizarre that we go through this process, when there's, we actually drink a very small percentage of water.

We could use recycled water for example for toilet flushing or for showering, or for gardening. We don't and that's the point that I'm raising, you don't need to do, you don't need to take these expensive solutions.

There are better, more environmentally sound solutions to the water supply problem.

ANNIE GUEST: It is indeed a divisive issue, among microbiologists, other academics and the community.

Professor Brian Priestly is on the Queensland Government's expert water advisory panel. He's an eco-toxicologist at Monash University and he disagrees with Professor Troy.

BRIAN PRIESTLY: Well I haven't seen the basis for his statements, but I'm familiar with the processes that are being established in south-east Queensland for the recycled water project, and I have seen no evidence at all that that would be the case.

In fact, the multi-barrier approach that's being used would quite effectively remove all pathogenic organisms as well as all relevant chemicals.

ANNIE GUEST: Now you've said that you agree with those microbiologists who argue that drinking recycled water is safe, your expertise is in the area of chemicals, how can you be sure they're right?

BRIAN PRIESTLY: Well, I've seen the performance characteristics of the barrier approaches and the evidence that I've seen clearly indicates that there is virtually complete removal of all pathogenic organisms and viruses.

There are adequate monitoring and safe guards to ensure that it does work effectively and that there are multiple barriers involved to cover any contingencies.

ANNIE GUEST: Do you mean so that if the first barrier fails, the second barrier kicks in?

BRIAN PRIESTLY: Yes, I mean to say it's based on a multi-barrier approach so that there is a degree of redundancy built into the system.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Professor Brian Priestly from Monash University, ending that report from Annie Guest in Brisbane.

See - Debates flares up over SE Qld recycled drinking water.

Experts go head to head and yet the Qld government would have you believe that everyone agrees with Anna's view ...