SEQ - Recycling sewage sparks warning ...

Excerpt from Sunshine Coast Daily:

Recycling sewage sparks warning

2 November 2008

A Sunshine Coast public forum was told yesterday that the state government’s controversial plan to introduce recycled sewage into south-east Queensland’s water supplies was a major health violation.

Water quality researcher Ray Sperring said the state government was using fraudulent overseas reports to back up its argument that recycled water was safe.

He urged the government to listen to the public and scrap the plan.

“With the amount of opposition to it, putting that pipeline down is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Mr Sperring said. “There needs to be more reports from local scientists before it goes ahead. I don’t want the Australian public sucked into this based on overseas reports.”

Patrick Troy, a water infrastructure expert, said it was not possible to prevent potentially harmful organisms from entering south-east Queensland’s water supply once recycling began. Mr Sperring also highlighted anti-recycling comments made last week by eminent microbiologist Peter Collignon, who said the plan to introduce recycled sewage into the state’s water supplies was a “reversal of 150 years of public health policy in Australia”.

Australian health and science authorities have issued a draft of the world’s first safety guidelines on recycling sewage for human consumption.

Brisbane will become the first Australian town or city to use recycled sewage for drinking by the end of next year, with recycled water to be pumped to the Wivenhoe Dam through the $1.7 billion western corridor pipeline.

The forum, which covers a range of issues including the financial crisis, ends today at Millwell Road Community Centre.

See - Recycling sewage sparks warning.