Should we realy be made drink recycled Sewage Water

[*'TOPHER*]

I can see sales of bottled water going through the roof.

Why? doesnt it come out of a tap anyway

I dont have a problem with drinking it, who cares what it once was, its been treated! Yeah sure its not a nice idea but we wouldnt be drinking it if it hadnt been properly treated and was now suitable for consumption

 

[Woza]

Interesting fact that I heard at lunch time from someone in the water treatment industry - all the water that is currentl catched in our water ways has already gone through 4 bladders to get there
I think that it is definetly mind over matter - If you didnt know any different it wouldnt be a problem

 

[Easy Tiger]

Use desalination, and use nuclear power to power the desalination.

In my opinion, there is no other option.

Victorians talk ****, why can't they be forced to drink it too? (Jokes people, jokes. Forward the hate mail elsewhere).

I will not drink recycled water. Other use is fine, but not for drinking. Gary, if you want to drink it, go ahead. No one is stopping you

And as for your comments about having done so for millions of years and evolution and all that.. next time we run into another planet from a big bang, remind me to push you Victorians onto it.. I'm sure the dinosaurs died out because they took one look at a Victorian, not a meteor. Or maybe that meteor was just a big piece of **** which landed back in our water supply?

8)

 

[Jase]

Maybe its time for Governments to slip a little something back in to palms of people that install say Rain Tanks, or dig for Bores as well. I mean Bore water surely treated has to be healthier?

Who knows i don’t know enough about it.... As for the floaters well..........Let’s hope not

I am with you on this one Tim if they want to drink it I won’t be stopping them… As for putting it back on our Lawns what do we re-invent to fix the fly problem…

 

[Chowny]

Who knows i don’t know enough about it.... As for the floaters well..........Let’s hope not

That seems to be the problem, people dont know enough about it. The info is out there and available.

little bit of info for ya. (i have taken this info from another forum i read)

The reclaimed water that is sent to the BP refinery in Brisbane (reclaimed from Luggage Point sewage treatment plant) has been better quality than Brisbane's town water on every sample that's been tested since the plant was installed 4 odd years ago..... and the testing occurs on a continuous basis 365 days a year 24 hrs per day, with at least one random sample taken on a daily basis and tested by an independant laboratory..

 

[Jordo]

I think the best solution for southeast is to install rainwater tanks for drinking you won't want to drink anything else and it would be good for you. We have one at home and I won't drink bore or town water it all tastes like what you will be getting recycled to me.
P.S water tanks are a good price to

 

[Odin_Tech]

I think the best solution for southeast is to install rainwater tanks for drinking you won't want to drink anything else and it would be good for you. We have one at home and I won't drink bore or town water it all tastes like what you will be getting recycled to me.
P.S water tanks are a good price to

If everyone installed a rainwater tank there wouldn't be any need to recycle Sewage Water. It would also be better for you. I think the Government should help pay for the rainwater tanks to be installed.

 

[DAWSY]

I agree with everything that Chowny has said. The biggest problem is the perception, this is already happening in many European countries, USA and some Asian countries.
Here are some facts:
Fact 1:
The process used will be the same as what is being installed at the Tugun desalination plant, reverse osmosis. Exactly as how Chowny explained earlier, the process is extremely fine filtration using extremely high pressures to push the water through the filters which are so fine toothed that it will trap most bacteria and other microscopic organisms. Then the water is disinfected using UV technology and some chemicals. The treated water will be piped into the dams for storage and then treated again at the water treatment plant as if it was just normal dam water. (this second treatment is unnecessary but will be done to alleviate any concerns that the public may have, kind of like a ‘safety blanket’; actually there are filters for this technology which will treat water to such a standard where water becomes ‘too clean’ and that minerals and stuff have to be added back to make the water fit for consumption)
Fact 2:
People are already drinking recycled water in SEQ. Esk and Kilcoy release recycled water into the Brisbane and Stanley Rivers which are the feeders for Wivenhoe and Somerset respectively.
Fact 3:
The water will be treated to a 5 star standard, most drinking water is treated to a 4 star standard.
Fact 4:
There is more cow s***, fertilisers and god knows what else in the dam water that is washed in from the catchment which is predominately agriculture. It is more likely that recycled water will improve the water quality in the dams.
Fact 5:
It is an extremely reliable source of high quality water.
I am extremely disappointed with the NO vote. I am annoyed that the NO campaigners used scare tactics such as ‘poowoomba’ and other negative comments that have been said in this thread. What really makes my blood boil is his (that ex-mayor who bank-rolled the campaign) ignorance and childish behaviour over this issue. It is fools like him who make this all that bit harder in implementing strategies for recycling water. This is why the general public and many members of this forum have little confidence or knowledge in this issue. The State Government has the power to implement recycling water, referendum or no referendum. But there seems to be limited policies on this matter, absolute no direction. That is why Toowoomba is on Level 4 water restrictions and why the rest is on Level 3. That is why Toowoomba held this referendum.
Where is the sustainability? All the other options combined together will not fix the problem but will be a good start. To be sustainable in the future, firstly this unchecked rapid development of SEQ must be slowed and secondly recycled water must be used.

 

[krdavis]

Would you really trust the State Government to keep the quality up to scratch ??? I bet if it ended up going ahead there would be another "we realise there is a problem, and are looking into it" speach from big Pete!.

Also, having consulted to the GCCC/Gold Coast Water, there are issues regarding hormone and steroid removal processess. Basically you can't!!!.

The only true environmentally sustainable and clean way of producing near-limitless supplies of water is desalination. Now desalination as a process is very energy hungry and requires huge amounts of electricity, so to supply this energy the best conceptual solution would be nuclear. So there you have it - a nuclear powered desalination plant. What a target aye Osama???

 

[wchester]

To everyone who has suggested rainwater tanks as the solution to the water shortage.....ARE YOU DENSE????
We're in a severe drought.....no rain means no water in your tank!

 

[Ice]

Here, here, in full agreement with you KR Davis!!!!!! Do you really trust Sydney Water bureau Chowny?? Or for that matter any government department? Are you kidding! Just look at what is/was floating in Bondi for you Sydney- siders to swim in or have you forgotten about that?

As for the water tanks........until recently I was a home owner in Cairns and Cairns City Council would not allow home owners to install rain water tanks in the suburbs, no matter what size they were or for what purpose. Plenty of rain to fill them there! And yet we were on water restrictions a lot of the year. And while our thousands of dollars worth of gardens struggled to survive the council ran their sprinklers on the median strips with most of it spraying onto the road and being wasted. It is just crazy.

I for one wouldn't trust council or government with this issue of clean drinking water.

 

[Chowny]

Here, here, in full agreement with you KR Davis!!!!!! Do you really trust Sydney Water bureau Chowny?? Or for that matter any government department? Are you kidding! Just look at what is/was floating in Bondi for you Sydney- siders to swim in or have you forgotten about that?

Hold on champ. back the bus up....
Do we have a choice in trusting them or not?
Am i not supposed to fire up when i get this thrown at me... come on

Do you really trust Sydney Water bureau Chowny??

There job is to provide a service, that being Water............
They and all water authority work to strict guidelines set by National Health and Medical Research Council, who work inconjunction with World Health Organization to set these guide lines.
Feel free to go and have a read about Australian Drinking Water Guidelines website:
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/eh19syn.htm
If ya feel like some more reading have a look at these sites to
http://www.sydneywater.com.au/
http://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/gcwater/
http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BRISWATERL:1915326506:pc=PC_1392
They all report water quality on their websites daily.
Id love to spend more time pasting links to readily available info.
maybe even try this one:
www.google.com.au

I for one wouldn't trust council or government with this issue of clean drinking water.

If they can do it you can?

No point making any of this personal. In the end this subject concerns all of us.

 

[Chowny]

Darn typos...

2nd last line should read.........




If they cant do it who can?

 

[Ice]

Nobody was making anything personal chowny. I simply asked you a question...did you trust them?? So "back the bus up" and no need to fire up ok. Yes this subject does concern all of us and I think the poll speaks for itself.

 

[bm2]

To everyone who has suggested rainwater tanks as the solution to the water shortage.....ARE YOU DENSE????
We're in a severe drought.....no rain means no water in your tank!

and hence no water in the dams or catchments. Of course we are all going to waste big dollars installing rainwater tanks that, for the moment and the near future, are destined to remain empty because the rains just aren't coming

Fact is, this drought has been happening for a long time, and it is only now that matters are reaching crisis point that the powers that be have thought about "maybe" pulling their fingers out of their proverbial a..es and trying to come up with a solution that should have been thought of ages ago.

I'm not crazy about having to use recycled water, but the inaction by government during this drought may mean that we won't have much choice in the matter. I saw on the telly the other night, residents of London, and Los Angeles talking about how their cities are already using it.....they certainly didn't look any the worse for wear. Most of us don't know the full extent of chemical treatment that is already being added to our water, so what's a bit more?? I'd prefer not to know

B

 

[Easy Tiger]

and hence no water in the dams or catchments. Of course we are all going to waste big dollars installing rainwater tanks that, for the moment and the near future, are destined to remain empty because the rains just aren't coming

Half of our problem here in Brisbane is that the rain isn't falling in the right areas.. the "catchments".

We have had decent enough rainfall here in Brisbane and surrounding areas to fill tanks many times over. And if the tanks are only used for gardening and drinking, then there is an ever better chance they wouldn't run out.

We had one on our property in Samford Valley until we sold in March this year.. we never ran out of water once, not at any time. And it's not like we were watering a quarter-acre block either.. it was over an acre of grass and gardens, plus all our drinking water, plus our pool refilling.

The amount of runoff from one house's roof into the gutters goes a long way to solving some of the problem.

So no, Wayne, we are not all dense

 

[Tiger]

until recently I was a home owner in Cairns and Cairns City Council would not allow home owners to install rain water tanks in the suburbs, no matter what size they were or for what purpose. Plenty of rain to fill them there! And yet we were on water restrictions a lot of the year. And while our thousands of dollars worth of gardens struggled to survive the council ran their sprinklers on the median strips with most of it spraying onto the road and being wasted. It is just crazy.

Yeah that happens here too, we've not had decent rains here for many years, and over summer for the last few years the Councils around greater Hobart issue restrictions because it gets very dry, only odd numbered houses can water their gardens on certain days, even numbered houses on the others, washing cars with bucket & sponge only but yet you head around the corner to any Council owned park or sporting field and they have sprinklers running everywhere, day and night, with water flooding the footpaths and streets all over the place, it's rediculous.

We got a nasty visit from the Council on Christmas eve a couple of years back threatening to fine us bigtime, because our old clay water pipes here (circa 1900) were leaking badly and causing problems in the street over the back, and the fellow from the Council was a real arsehole about it.
Yet just around the corner, across from the football ground, water's been leaking out of a hole in the road constantly for about 12 months - as usual, its still leaking

It seems like they're allowed waste water but nobody else is.

 

[DAWSY]

Yes desalination consumes extreme amounts of energy but that can be overcome without nuclear energy. The desalination plant at Landers Shute on the Sunshine Coast harnesses hydro electricity which provides more than enough energy to power the plant with some left over.

 

[Feral]

Does sewerage water treatment remove toxic wastes such as "Drano", organophosphates, detergents, solvents, disinfectants, etc.? How is this done? With contaminated soils (from service stations, industrial sites, etc) the soil has to be removed to a "safe site". Can this soil be decontaminated? How? Can anyone answer these questions please?

 

[Ice]

Good question Feral. I didn't even think about all the nasty chemicals we put in our bathrooms!!!