Your thoughts on Recycle Sewage water for Drinking?

[encouraging loves animals]

I don't want this to happen as I can see alot of potention problems

1. Leaking pipes
2. Not filtered problem
3. Increase of Gastro and intestional disorders are a health hazard if leaking recycled sewage water does not get filter properly.
4.Human Error
5. Not as safe as made out to be.
See news article
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20977136-661,00.html

What are your opinions on this?

 

[thankful4god]

I agree. I live in the country so we have our own water supplies; rainwater tanks and water from the artesion bore. But I wouldn't want to drink recycled water - yuck....... maybe for watering gardens instead!

 

[chadders]

I have to disagree. This is a solution that will get rid of most of the drought problems. It would be best however if it wasn't sewage but more waste water from storms. But either way, water in dams is to some degree polluted. Either way the water needs to be cleaned and I reckon it is more the concept that's disturbing not the solution.

 

[HotToast]

I agree with recycling waste water. Most people seem to forget that nature recycles water anyway. It is called the water cycle. Just in nature the soil filters the water, rather than a reverse osmosis machine or similar.

I think that this along with more restrictions and a higher cost are the only way that we are going to overcome the water problem. At the moment the solutions that the government is driving (using bores and rainwater tanks) only change the place in the water cycle where we are taking water from. It doesn't actually help fix the problem.

Too many people are pretending that we don't have a water shortage/drought in Australia. We need to do something so that we actually have water in the future!

 

[MOTHY]

NO! Water use for drinking is minimal. I have no objection to recycled water for washing etc. I'm somewhat mystified why the powers that be are promoting recycled water for drinking. Industry uses heaps and household use for washing and watering gardens is miniscule in comparison. Drinking water, I would think, would not even register on the scale. So how come we are even considering drinking recycled water? Everything else should come second to human consumption . Drinking fresh water should remain a priority. All other uses , sure, can afford to use recycled water.

 

[eyesarebright]

I would never drink it but I would use it to wash with.
I think they need to push water tanks more and wells.
If I had to I would buy my drinking water.

 

[Naomi4Christ]

Here in London, we drink whatever Reading (30 miles) west put into the sewer.

I think our water supply is fairly safe from gastro issues.

 

[elm0]

Here in London, we drink whatever Reading (30 miles) west put into the sewer.

I think our water supply is fairly safe from gastro issues.

I can agree with Naomi that the water in London is safe to drink. And it isn't just Reading's recycled water that they're drinking, there's a few other large towns and cities upstream of London as well.

I have no problem at all with drinking recycled water. The government wouldn't even think of doing something like that if it would present a threat to the community's health.

 

[chadders]

I don't want this to happen as I can see alot of potention problems

1. Leaking pipes
2. Not filtered problem
3. Increase of Gastro and intestional disorders are a health hazard if leaking recycled sewage water does not get filter properly.
4.Human Error
5. Not as safe as made out to be.
See news article
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20977136-661,00.html

What are your opinions on this?

I don't trust the media . They sensationalize things too much. Besides, there is a lot of potential problems with the current method of cleaning water. Some of these include:

1. Leaking pipes (leaking pipes can't be helped no matter where you are in the world)
2. Not filtered problem (This problem could exist with any situation, rain water or recycled water).
3. Increase of Gastro and intestional disorders are a health hazard if leaking recycled sewage water does not get filter properly. (Current drinking water is recycled by nature. We are simply imitating this.)
4. Human Error (This will never go away)
5. Not as safe as made out to be. (Yes it's a change however we are only fine with the current methods because it appears safe and we are used to it. People are afraid of change that's a fact.).

This method is tried and tested by other countries anyway, and they have no problems with it. Our health system is one of the better in the world. The government would not be suggesting this as a solution if they thought it was unsafe. I don't see what we have got to worry about. Using recycled water will solve the water crisis. Besides, the gray water plant is overflowing.

- Chadders.

 

[encouraging loves animals]

I still don't think it safe, drinking recycled sewage water, but i think it okay to water plants with etc. Fresh water should remain a priority, we are Australians. Thanks for your opinions, and I welcome any more opinions.

 

[HotToast]

We definately need something big to happen, or we are going to find ourselves with servere water shortages soon. I hope that the government makes the best decision for the future well being of our nation.

 

[MadeInOz]

I'd drink it on one condition: that I didn't know it was recycled drinking water...


Secondly however... I think that it would probably be cleaner than the normal stuff we drink. I have a water filtering system in my house, and it makes it so much better tasting/looking than the stuff that comes out of the tap.

 

[Trogdor the Burninator]

I'd start with recycling storm water first. Much easier and cheaper to do.

 

[googled]

I don't want this to happen as I can see alot of potention problems

1. Leaking pipes

There are already leaking pipes in Sydney that takes 20% of our water every year...

I don't see how this affects the issue of recycled water

2. Not filtered problem

Filtration the way you see it, though there are mechanical and electrical components to it, which can fail. There are however filtration that doesn't fail because of faulty gear or a lack of electricity, and that's being used in the pre and post filtration process.

Basically, our waste, as long as it doesn't have industrial chemcials added to it, there are plenty of bacteria that would love to mush and eat our waste and exert water and other waste out, which then goes to filtration

3. Increase of Gastro and intestional disorders are a health hazard if leaking recycled sewage water does not get filter properly.

Trust me, this is much much better than East Timor, where their natural water filtration is below par, hence a lot of people have worms in their intestines.

4.Human Error

Explain to me which process "Human Error" can effect?

It's not enough to simply say "Human Error" without providing specific areas that are sensitive to "Human Error".

5. Not as safe as made out to be.
See news article
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20977136-661,00.html

What are your opinions on this?

If it's done properley then I'm fine with it.

Basically, you need evaporation to clear out a lot of waste... then the next tier of water filtration.

Also I would suggest the Government provide a seperate line, that is, that Natural water should be provided for human consumption first.

All other recycled water should be given to industries and farms to use.
Which means you'd need to build a seperate pipe to utalise this system.

 

[Blessed-one]

of course I don't want to, but if I really have to.. then that can't be helped. After all, we do have to solve the water problem somehow.

 

[Shadowcat]

The idea of drinking recycled water doesn't worry me at all.

 

[HotToast]

Hey guys, I heard about this on late night radio last night and was wondering what you thought about it,

Under a planned, four-year $38 million trial, 1.5 gigalitres of waste water annually would be treated to drinking-water quality. It would then be injected into groundwater, where it would undergo further natural treatment as it percolated through the aquifer over several years.

From [URL]http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/perth-tests-treated-sewage-for-drinking/2007/01/01/1167500065933.html[/URL]

I of course I don't mind the idea of threated sewage for drinking. But I was wondering if several years of natural water treatment through the soil would make a difference to people who don't like the original idea.

I hope that the WA government gets the funding for it.

 

[pastordavidd]

If it can save lives (ie-farmers who are committing suicide each week because of not having enough water). I don;t think they will just do without thinking of those original problems....

 

[TheDag]

I wonder how many remember the situation with Sydneys water supply (in the late 1990's I think) and everyone had to boil water before they could drink it. That was water from dams. So I strongly agree that dams are not safe and are not fail proof. Those problems were not due to human error by the way. Maybe those who think there are problems with drinking recycled water could say what the problems are in relation to countries that have been drinking it for about 40 years now. Tests done on current drinking water shows that it isn't that great. It would be good if we could at least use recycled water for other purposes but people generally get their drinking water from the same pipes that provide bath water and gardening water and cleaning water. Some industries in Brisbane already use recycled water (one brewery went to great lengths to point out they don't use recycled water in making beer once it was mentioned they used recycled water.) Dedicated pipes have however been required to enable the use of recycled water for industry.

 

[Neenie1]

I don't like the idea of it. I can't get past thinking it's gross.

But if there's no water, what are we supposed to do. I don't think we have much choice any more.