Poll

do you think recylced water should be used to top up dams?

yes
18 (90%)
no
2 (10%)

Total Members Voted: 20

Author Topic: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?  (Read 4400 times)

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Offline noss

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whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« on: Jul 27, 2006, 11:52AM »
well i was pointed out by an old co-worker from melbourne about all the ruckus surrounding the recycled water issue in queensland right now.. and i was wondering what everyone's thoughts were?

here is an article i was pointed to from the courier mail

http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19925801-952,00.html

this is a 'letter to the editor' that i sent in response.. it probably wont be printed cause their stance seems to be 'anti recycled water' - the joys of living in a city controlled by a single news paper company.

Quote
I think people are totally missing the point on the recycled water issue. There will not be water mains coming straight from sewage plants to the domestic water supply as the title of the story/poll ‘toilet to the tap’ suggests. It’s a totally misleading statement.

Water has been and always will be, recycled and returned to our dams naturally, however due to many factors, that natural occurrence isnt happening as efficiently anymore, with the exponential growth of south east queensland, the fact that our water supply is dwindling is further exaggerated. premier beattie’s suggestion to speed up the process by topping up dams with recycled water is the best suggestion yet and really the only thing we have going for us.

Its not like the water would be sent straight from the sewage plant to the dam either, the mere suggestion is absurd – the water is treated first, and in many cases, the treated water is a higher quality than the water that currently comes from our taps.

Do people realize that there are fish in our dams? Animals drink from our dams? We even swim in our dams – when you think about that, swimming in your own drinking water is quite disgusting, yet everyone drinks the water. No one gets sick from it, simply because there are stringent measures taken to ensure that the water is clean and treated and of a high quality.

If people are going to go against recycled water topping up our dams, they might as well stop swimming in the ocean – because that’s where the water currently ends up after its treated at sewage plants.

Use the head that is on your shoulders and think about the situation for just a few short minutes. If we don’t take advantage of recycled water, we’ll have nothing.
« Last Edit: Jul 27, 2006, 12:59PM by noss »

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Offline SSS

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #1 on: Jul 27, 2006, 12:05PM »
As long as it's treated correctly, i don't have a problem with it.

Offline noss

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #2 on: Jul 27, 2006, 12:12PM »
yeh, i used to work for a company that designed water treatment plants, and their treated water was consistently higher quality than what came out of the tap.

no company or government would be stupid enough to no sufficiently treat water which was intended for drinking.

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Offline Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #3 on: Jul 27, 2006, 12:28PM »
I agree if its treated properly. People are too pussy now days, its like ohh now we cant do that we might get sick! They don't even think about the fact that all water is recycled anyway its just done by the earth. I'm pretty sure with the technology we have now days we can clean the water, FFS some country's whole water systems are built on desalinization!

Which brings me to a point people in general are too scared of everything now days, no one builds up a tolerance to anything when there kids now days because there parents shield them from everything too much (don't breathe dust, don't play in the mud, don't play with the cat, don't jump off the roof....well maybe i went a bit far with that one). Then later in life they suffer from it because they have no tolerance to dust, animals fur etc.
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Offline Kranzy

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #4 on: Jul 27, 2006, 12:34PM »
Which brings me to a point people in general are too scared of everything now days, no one builds up a tolerance to anything when there kids now days because there parents shield them from everything too much (don't breathe dust, don't play in the mud, don't play with the cat, don't jump off the roof....well maybe i went a bit far with that one). Then later in life they suffer from it because they have no tolerance to dust, animals fur etc.

I completely agree...which is why ill throw my kids into mud :P

Well...maybe not throw but there sure as hell are going to be allowed to play outside in the mud, dirt, doing what kids do.

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Offline noss

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #5 on: Jul 27, 2006, 03:38PM »
ok so i was wrong.. i got a phone call to say they're gonna print my stupid letter :P

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Offline Budgie

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #6 on: Jul 27, 2006, 03:57PM »
Good work noss.

I watched something on the QLD situation a few nights ago.  A similar situation is emerging in geelong at the moment with our water supply's getting very low again, but this time earlier than usual.  There is talk of recycling sewage water in the geelong papers at the moment.  All of our sewage is dumped out at sea 'sydney style' from the black rock treatment plant.

People don't seem to understand that every bit of water on this planet has been recycled many many times, broken down into its basic parts then re-distributed all over the planet time and time again.
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Offline noss

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #7 on: Jul 27, 2006, 04:06PM »
yep. every time you go and play in the rain, you're dancing in someone else's poo  ::)

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Offline noss

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #8 on: Jul 27, 2006, 04:11PM »
oh, and please correct me if i'm wrong, but the way i understand things is that there is only X ammount of water on the planet and you cant make 'new' water.

Water is obviously used and consumed, but it makes its way back  to us after whatever natural (or mechanically/scientifically assisted) processes.

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Offline Budgie

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #9 on: Jul 27, 2006, 04:21PM »
I understand that to be correct noss-ster.

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Offline CS2rex

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #10 on: Jul 27, 2006, 06:21PM »
i dont have a problem with recycling water, as long as its done properly (obviously)

i forget where i heard this, pretty sure it was at work but not sure.. they recycle water in london, and a company did a study to reveal that the water in londons system at the time had been through 11 people before it reached everyones homes (again). the study also showed that the water was basically the same as when they werent recycling,

theres some useless information for ya

Offline bogan_bob

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #11 on: Jul 27, 2006, 06:28PM »
I have long been a fan of recycled water. If it is stored in dams, not only will it be treated before its put into the dams, its treated before it makes it to the Queenslanders taps!!! Adelaide has the option of irrigating its horticultural areas on the northern plains with recycled water from the nearby bolivar treatment plant but no we can't have that because people think their vege's will be watered with pure poo, which couldnt be further from the truth  >:(

Was up in Brisbane last week and it was very dry, how can people think twice about that option?? Its because of the stupid local paper, i believe in Qld it is 'the courier mail' and in adelaide its 'the advertiser'. These papers, edited by f^ckwits, feed the large, uneducated portion of the respective cities' population what opinion they want them to have. These often present the public with one sided arguments, usually against the proposed idea and people like me have to come through and present the otherside of the argument to them, which often makes them look at the topic differently. Other such topics people are misinformed on are 'mulesing' and 'GMOs'. They get me fired up  >:(

Are the two above mentioned newspapers owned by the same media company? Bogan Bob thinks this is quite possible the case......... >:(

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Offline JIMB0

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #12 on: Jul 27, 2006, 07:16PM »
Why not use recycled water for watering parks, gardens, and sports fields, flushing the toilet and in industry and power stations, before we resort to drinking it. In Melbourne homes in the new Sandhurst estate have recycled water for their toilet flushing and garden watering. All the golf courses and vineyards along the Mornington Peninsular use recycled water.

Currently they are looking into building a pipeline from the Eastern Treatment Plant to deliver recycled water to the power stations in Gippsland, which use good quality drinking water at the moment. This project alone would recycle 30% of Melbournes water.

I am a fan of recycled water, but there are many better ways to recycle before we have to drink it.
« Last Edit: Jul 27, 2006, 07:19PM by JIMB0 »

Offline Smiley Of Terror

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #13 on: Jul 27, 2006, 08:15PM »
yup, i'm all for recycled water.
I live in goulburn, which has level 5 water restrictions (150L per person per day)
I personally think that not onyl should sewerage water be treated and put back into the dams.
they should also create de-sal plants for coastal areas.
especially sydney... so as to decrease the water catchment area so we can build more dams to supply our own damn town :S
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Offline noss

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #14 on: Jul 27, 2006, 08:44PM »
estates like you mentioned jimbo are a good idea in concept, however, they just dont work like you think they do.

i work in the water industry, and know for a fact that in australia, 90% of the time, the 'recycled' water that is used in new estates is drinking water from the main in the street.

why?

well because for a starter, there is no on site black water treatment facilities. it just cant be done for many reasons. on site recycled grey water (used water - but no human wastes) will only come from your basin and sinks, and possibly your dishwasher and washing machine. in the grand scheme of things, that isnt a lot of water. these onsite tanks not only rely on re-using water from the home, they rely heavily on rain water which is something we just dont have. you would need to wash your hands maybe 10 times before you had enough water to flush a toilet. the dishwasher and washing machine are another story though obviously using much more water per wash. when these tanks arent full enough, they are replenished with a 'make up water' supply from the town main.

black water (water used in the toilet) still goes to the sewer mains and on its way to the sewage treatment plant. so that is water gone. say the average family of 4 use the toilet 3 times a day each on average, thats about 100 litres a day going back to the sewage treatment plants..

i personally worked on a green building in melbourne - owned by the australian conservation foundation (acf) - they had all these fantastic ideas, and they deserve a lot of kudos for their ideas, but their green building, even after using the most water efficient fixtures, recycling their grey water - even treating their own black water on site, use more water per day than they can recycle. admittedly they save a lot of water, but they still use a lot of water, not to mention they treat their own black water on site which you could not do at home.

although off the topic of fancy green housing estates and buildings, i guess what you really need to do is look at that for a whole city.. 3.5 million people in melbourne, using on average 20 litres of unclaimable (on site at least) black water per day - thats 70,000,000 litres per day.

in my opinion, although re-using grey water is a great initiative and will help conserve water, but it requires people to want to spend their own hard earned cash to maintain their way of life when it comes to water use, its not just purchasing a tank, its running a lot of new pipework throughout the property. not everyone will want to or simply not be able to afford the money to setup grey water re-use at home.

the solution isnt as simple as putting recycled/desalinised water in our dams, there is a lot involved. educating the public.. convincing people to install grey water re-use systems to help conserve the water.. they're all big hurdles but i think they all have to be done.

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Offline JIMB0

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #15 on: Jul 27, 2006, 09:32PM »
estates like you mentioned jimbo are a good idea in concept, however, they just dont work like you think they do.

i work in the water industry, and know for a fact that in australia, 90% of the time, the 'recycled' water that is used in new estates is drinking water from the main in the street.

The recycled water for this estate comes from the Eastern Treatment Plant (class C effulent), via another treatment plant that further treats the water to class A.
« Last Edit: Jul 30, 2006, 06:45PM by JIMB0 »

Offline dave-trx

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #16 on: Jul 30, 2006, 07:35AM »
For Sydney yes, its allegedly the best city. They got themselves into that problem, so deal with. The hunter Valley has plenty of water.
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Offline SSS

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #17 on: Jul 31, 2006, 09:22AM »
Well it seems that the stupid residents voted against the treated recycled water, so the joke will be on them when they run out.

Offline nismoboi

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #18 on: Aug 1, 2006, 08:48PM »
apparently the recycled water can be used for dialysis so if its good for that its obviousily got to be better than the water were drinkin now

Offline bogan_bob

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #19 on: Aug 1, 2006, 10:22PM »
Just saw Rove, Peter Heliar and co. referring to recycled water as 'poo water'. They were joking about how it was such a surprise that the the referendum was lost because people dont want to drink their own poo.

What a short sighted view on the subject. If i ever see that midget in real life i shall kick box his face in.

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Offline ashman01

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #20 on: Aug 1, 2006, 11:08PM »
I dont have a problem with it (i mean hinze damn is at 92%) so its not as if they would be pumping in much. Also who drinks straight from the tap anyway? And another thing. Why dont we just make the recycled water for big business. I remember reading somthing that said business takes over 70% of the drinking water and if the top 15 companies that take water didnt we would save a massive amount. I cant remember how much. but why  cant they just have it. I remember that a ferterlizer comapany took the most in brisbane and im sure they wouldnt care what water they used.

But i vote yes to recylced water but i dont think i could drink it. I wouldnt mind it but i would drink bottled water.

Offline Jono

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #21 on: Aug 1, 2006, 11:27PM »
Also who drinks straight from the tap anyway?

I do, but I wouldn't be worried because as nismoboi said it's cleaner than tap water. How much livestock shit would be in the water we drink before it's treated?

And another thing. Why dont we just make the recycled water for big business. I remember reading somthing that said business takes over 70% of the drinking water and if the top 15 companies that take water didnt we would save a massive amount. I cant remember how much. but why  cant they just have it. I remember that a ferterlizer comapany took the most in brisbane and im sure they wouldnt care what water they used.

It would be an insane amount of work in changing all the existing plumbing to route recycled water to selected buildings while keeping the existing water supply to other buildings. It is never going to happen.

But i vote yes to recylced water but i dont think i could drink it. I wouldnt mind it but i would drink bottled water.

I bet you've never seen/smelt/tasted a sample of recycled water.
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Offline ashman01

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #22 on: Aug 1, 2006, 11:31PM »
Agree'd to everything u have just said. Just saying. I dont drink tapwater now, so nothings going to change. I no its going to be filtered better than even the antrx language filter but i dont no, its just me. But im all for it. I think people who are against it are just idiots.

Some1 needs to just tell them this:

THERE ISNT GOING TO BE ANYMORE FUCKING WATER IF WE DONT RECYCLE IT YOU D*CKHEAD. ITS DRINK REALLY CLEAN FILTERED WATER OR DIE. TAKE UR PICK!

Offline SAIUN

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Re: whats your thoughts on recycled water to the dams?
« Reply #23 on: Aug 2, 2006, 12:16AM »
Why not use recycled water for watering parks, gardens, and sports fields, flushing the toilet and in industry and power stations, before we resort to drinking it.

Get this through your head: THE WATER IS FILTERED AND CLEANED, AND IS THEREFORE NO DIFFERENT FROM THE EXISTING TAP WATER, EXCEPT FOR ITS ORIGIN. No bloody difference at all. It's clean. Nothing wrong with it.

Your argument also fails. So we can spray water that ISN'T clean enough for us to drink on sports fields which kids will run around on and play footy and fall over and smoosh their faces into the grass when they get tackles etc. etc. but we can't drink the stuff? If it's not good enough to drink, then surely we shouldn't be spraying it all over places where people regularly go.

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