SEQ - Water recycling backflip means no respite from restrictions ...

Excerpt from Courier Mail:

Water recycling backflip means no respite from restrictions

27 November 2008

Southeast Queensland residents could be denied respite from water restrictions because of the Government's reluctance to use recycled water.

Advice from the Queensland Water Commission, released in State Parliament yesterday, warned that the chance of dam levels reaching the 60 per cent trigger at which restrictions were scheduled to be eased would be affected by the Government's decision.

The QWC also said the Government might have to fast-track new desalination plants to make up for the shortfall in water caused by the decisions.

The advice recommends that if the Government was to adopt an emergency-only policy, then the recycled water tap should be turned on when supplies drop to 40 per cent.

Infrastructure Minister Paul Lucas yesterday insisted the QWC's estimates were based on conservative rainfall figures, while any impact on restrictions and future infrastructure plans were likely to be minimal.

Mr Lucas said southeast Queensland residents had chosen tougher restrictions over recycled water.

"Everything is about choices and the community has taken the view that they would rather have a small drop in water levels," he said.

Mr Lucas also said that to push ahead with recycled water when the community wanted it only for use in emergencies would further undermine public confidence.

Figures in the QWC report show the combination of median rainfall and unfettered recycled water use would have heralded the end of restrictions briefly in March 2011.

The report also said it was important that the Government secure another desalination site because it was now the "only substantial climate-resilient source of supply available".

The QWC's next edition of the Southeast Queensland Water Strategy will be delayed until April so the commission can recalculate restrictions and the region's infrastructure needs, as the viability of other recycling options is now in doubt.

"Accordingly, the identification and preservation of the future desalination sites will become a more critical part of the revised strategy," the report said.

Mr Lucas said the Government was well ahead in its planning and was already in the process of considering desalination sites which previously had not been needed until 2028.

See - Water recycling backflip means no respite from restrictions.