Water Recycling

Yesterday residents of Toowoomba (an inland south-east Queensland city not far from where we live) voted no (62%) to a referendum on recycled water, i.e. the treating of sewage (your own shi...) for drinking water. This is an interesting development as Toowoomba is widely regarded as the litmus test of water re-use in Australia.

Contrary to Europe, droughts are inevitable in Australia due to it’s location under a subtropical belt of high pressure. This high pressure belt results in low rainfall that is also very inconsistent. In addition, phenomena such as global climate change and El Niño can exacerbate the problem. Currently large regions across Australia, particularly the east coast and central Australia, are experiencing severe drought conditions. Many of these areas are enduring and the most onerous conditions on record. South-east Queensland where we live is no exception. We are experiencing (level 3) water restrictions due to historically low dam levels and a very bleak outlook for the future water supply. The combined capacity of the dams has now fallen below 30% and is expected to fall even further. To put further strain on water supplies south-east Queensland is also Australia’s fastest growing metropolitan region and is predicted to continue to grow strongly from its 2006 population of 2.8 million to a 2026 population of 3.7 million. The need to consider alternative water supply options is therefore very acute.

I personally believe recycling is inevitable and important for securing the water supply in this region. Although recycling needs to be justified on economic, social and environmental grounds and compared with other options like desalination, the prospect of running out of water in any region is scary and one that should be avoided at any cost. However, the notion of recycling and hence the thought of drinking your own efluent is not without controversy and poses significant community challenges.

Clearly, the ability to inform the community plays an important role. The need for transparent, reliable information to be made available to the community for it to form its own opinion (rather than experts saying how safe and reliable the supply would be) is paramount. This was also the basis for a successful community participation programme implemented in Singapore – one of the few countries to pump treated recycled water directly back into the water supply system.

It will be interesting to follow the debate. Support for recycled water schemes has achieved significant political support and it is unlikely that its implementation will be curtailed by this one referendum. Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has in the media said regardless of the referendum outcome, other south-east Queensland communities would likely have to vote on the same issue in the future. "What happens in Toowoomba will have an influence on the time line for which south-east Queensland votes on this," Mr Beattie said. Also, he commented, if the vote was negative "then we will have to go out and explain the truth about recycling".

Does this ring any familiar bells with Danes? If you don’t get the answer you want first time around simply try again ("no" to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 and subsequently "yes" to Edinburgh in 1993).