SEQ recycled water - Far from Armageddon ...

The Australian continues its excellent series of articles.

In this one, the haste by the Bligh government to pour recycled water into Wivenhoe Dam is questioned.

Excerpt from the Australian:

Far from Armageddon

5 November 2008

Queensland's recycled water timetable needs a rethink

When former Queensland premier Peter Beattie cancelled a referendum in January last year for the southeast of his state about adding recycled sewage to drinking water, he said the treated effluent would be added only when the three dams that serviced the area had a capacity below 40 per cent. An "Armageddon situation" was fast approaching, he said.

Two months later, Mr Beattie's then deputy Anna Bligh, now Premier, told parliament the state Water Commission expected levels in the combined Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine dams could reach just 5 per cent of capacity by this December.

Despite the doomsday scenarios, good rains across the catchment have put levels above the 40 per cent mark for the past three months. But at the start of Queensland's storm and rainfall season, Ms Bligh has decided to allow recycled sewage to be added to the drinking water of 2.6 million people in one of Australia's fastest-growing areas from February.
It was prudent, at the height of the drought, to support the establishment of infrastructure for water recycling to cope with an "Armageddon situation". In the current conditions, however, there is no need for haste.

As The Australian reports today, the Queensland Government has hailed Singapore as a prime example of the success of recycled sewage in the drinking water supply. But less than 1 per cent of drinking water in Singapore is comprised of recycled sewage. This is a small fraction of the 10 to 25 per cent of recycled sewage proposed for southeast Queensland.

Academic opinion is divided, but southeast Queenslanders are paying attention to the concerns of two senior Australian National University academics who have raised serious doubts about the safety of the scheme. Peter Collignon, a microbiologist and Canberra Hospital's infectious diseases director, insists hospital wastes should not be included in recycled water because of the potential for contamination. Professor Collignon points to the use of recycled water in European rivers that has resulted in elevated levels of hormones that have changed the sex of fish.

While the Queensland Government refuses to postpone the start of recycling, it is yet to determine how much hospital waste would be recycled. Nor has it approved a viable scheme to prevent hospital wastes being discharged into the system. It could also be a concern that many patients treated with heavy medications are cared for at home.

The ANU's Patrick Troy, whose expertise is in planning, said last week: "It will not be possible to remove all biologically active waste molecules from the system." Up to 8 per cent of such impurities could get through, even when the system was working properly. Professor Troy has warned that residents with allergies would be particularly at risk of infection from the recycling, and says the authorities are playing Russian roulette with the health of the population.

The severe drought last year was a major wake-up call to all Australians that it is time to get serious about water management. Out of this, important lessons need to be learned and acted on about water use and pricing. Like most Australian capitals, Brisbane is long overdue for a major new dam, and the Traveston Crossing Dam should proceed as soon as possible. It also makes sense to employ recycled water for heavy industrial use, especially for electricity generation. The advent of recycled drinking water in Brisbane, however, is likely to set a precedent that other states would eventually copy as an alternative to greater investment in dams and desalination. The Bligh Government would be wise to hasten slowly.

See - The Australian - Far from Armageddon.