Recycled Water Has To Beat The 'yuck' Factor

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday June 20, 2007

Stephanie Peatling

ADDING recycled water to drinking water would be a good way for major cities to augment their water supplies, the Federal Government's main water advisory body has recommended.

But the National Water Commission says community attitudes need to be carefully monitored because many people still believe in the "yuck factor" of drinking recycled water.

"The use of recycled water to supplement drinking water supplies appears to offer a potentially appropriate option for some cities to access a significant new source of water that is independent of rainfall," a discussion paper prepared by the commission and released last night says.

"This option may compare favourably with other options on an economic or environmental basis."

The commission concluded that there was a greater problem with people's perception of recycled water rather than the water itself.

Although it was "reasonable" to be concerned because there was the potential for the water to contain harmful contaminants, the commission concluded the risks could be eradicated with proper treatment.

It noted people were more comfortable with using recycled water for things such as gardening and washing the car than for drinking.

People who reacted unfavourably tended to fall into two groups, the commission found.

"First, some people have a reaction of disgust at the idea of using water from this source. Technical discussions about risk and purity after treatment may not be of interest to people with this reaction.

"Secondly, some people are more comfortable if they believe the water is more 'natural', i.e., has spent some time in a river, lake or ground water basin," it said.

The cost of adding recycled water to drinking water needed to be compared with other options such as desalination, extracting more ground water and harvesting storm water.

But, the commission noted, it was relatively easy to augment drinking water with recycled water because it could make use of the existing sewer system.

Queensland and the ACT have already announced plans to build large-scale water recycling plants.