SEQ recycled water - Qld Health Dept admits it has NO IDEA how much hospital waste is involved ...

As expected, Barrier 1 of Anna Bligh's recycled water project is a complete farce.

Qld Health, which has responsibility for overseeing the quality of the recycled water, now admits it has no idea how much hospital waste will end up in the system.

This is the same Qld Health which has staggered from one scandal to another.

Any confidence in the Health Dept monitoring the recycled water?

Not much ...

Excerpt from the Australian:

4 November 2008

The Bligh Government left Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young out of the approval loop on the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project.

Instead, the scheme was given a health clearance by the Office of the Water Supply Regulator, an arm of the state Department of Natural Resources and Water.

The revelation came as Dr Young's department admitted it did not know how much hospital waste would be recycled.

Queensland Health said yesterday it was now helping to conduct research to find out how much hospital waste would be in the 60 megalitres of treated sewage a day pumped into Brisbane's main storage, the Wivenhoe Dam, from February. The daily volume will rise to 230ML later next year.
...

Recycled sewage will comprise between 10 per cent and 25 per cent of the water supply for the 2.6 million residents of southeast Queensland.

Dr Selvey said the quantity of hospital waste that was dumped into the sewage system -- and would therefore be recycled as drinking water -- was not known.

See - The Australian - Quantity of hospital waste in recycled water unknown.

The recycled water project's not even finished and it's already a debacle.

The only possible action Anna Bligh can now take is to halt any plans to pour recycled water into Wivenhoe Dam pending an inquiry into this mess ...