Drinking Recycled Sewage

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Will you drink water with recycled sewage content?

[S3SR]

other people do...
its gonna be a fact of life soon. garunteed death and you will drink recycled water

GO north queensland and your rain... mmmm fresh drinking water

[WILDTRAKPX2]

Originally Posted by FALCONSR

other people do...
its gonna be a fact of life soon. garunteed death and you will drink recycled water

Not me. I'll be purchasing bottled spring water (the large home delivered bottles) to drink, and using the tap water for everything else.

[Smoke Pursuit]

It will be interesting to see how Toowoomba responds, i think they are going to vote on this soon??

I wouldnt drink it, I already drink bottled water.

[henry 351]

Drink water??? Of any sort??? You know what fish do in that stuff???
Seriously, people are complaining about petrol prices, but will pay 75 cents a litre for bottled water.

I can see water tank and water filter sales escalating for sure.

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by henry 351

Seriously, people are complaining about petrol prices, but will pay 75 cents a litre for bottled water.

It's actually more than that. I think the last time I bought bottled water, it was $3 for a litre. I swore never, ever to buy bottled water ever again.

If it came down to the last resort, I'd drink recycled water.

[merlin]

Yes, a lot of other developed countries do and the technology is there to filter it. It tastes no different, has no pathogens ect. I studied this at uni which was a good 5 years ago so the technology has only improved even further. In this country we are going to have to - so get used to it.

There needs to be an education campaign by the government showing these facts, as many people are simply uninformed.

[DazBA]

I don't think a lot of people understand what the the process will actually be. A lot of the fault is with the media. The way they report the situation, is as if recycled water will come straight out of the treatment plants and into our taps. Which, of course, is utter BS.

It will be added to the normal source of water supply (ie. river water) to complement it. If they follow the river upstream from the water treatment plant, there are several towns along the way whose treated effluent already is deposited into the river, which of course eventually makes its way to the drinking water supply.

What about the dead animals that float in the dams and rivers? What about the runoff from paddocks laden with cow manure. This is why they treat the water. To make it safe to drink. I personally won't have a problem with it when it happens. And, it is a matter of when, not if.

[matsbfxr6]

The water that we drink now is already recycled by nature at any rate, dr karl did a spiel on it once, how the earth has not produced new water molecules for quite some time.

[ELAUBA]

When water in the Rhine (river in Germany) reaches the ocean it has been 'used' several times. I.E. consumed in some way and returned to the river a few times over.

All the water we use today has been used millions of times throughout history. All the current plan for toowoomba does is skip a few steps in the process...

[Sorted]

I voted no but if they used a different way to describe it instead of RECYCLED SEWAGE then maybe I would

[kyro_02]

i dunno what if a floaty fesie doesn't get contained .. :P

hmm i dunno if i would , i guess wait and see

[merlin]

Originally Posted by DRHEMI

I voted no but if they used a different way to describe it instead of RECYCLED SEWAGE then maybe I would

How bout "pre-loved effluent" :dr_Evil:

[rodderz]

Yes I think a name change would be the best

Years ago we did a landscape job at Lilydale Poo farm, apparently the water that went back into the river was cleaner than the actual river water. It would be hard to drink though, especially as driving to the job you could see various stages of settling and a truck collecting the "solids". It's a great idea though, too much water gets wasted

[fiery]

I won't drink the tap water stuff we have now (except boiled and in coffee's), so why would I if it came from sewage...

It may be safe but I will buy the bottled stuff thanks........ e

[gozza]

The thing that people don't know is that waste and all sorts of stuff have been dumped in our water ways for ages...Not to mention animal effluent...carcasses on the banks etc etc

Its just a mental state....when people have no water they'll get over it...when they realise they have been drinking filth anyway they will realise that wow...now instead of crap being put in our water then treated....the crap will be treated first

[laneman]

I really don't see what the hoo har is about.People have to get over this "yuck"factor.How do they get on in space?They drink recycled water,they have to.They've been doin it for years on the space station.
If Toowoomba doesn't get the rain,it'll have to go that way.Just hope the town doesn't suffer a drop in tourism just because of the media's yuck factor,but you can't stop the inevittable. :

['63Deluxe]

Trouble with the recycling plant is that it will be built by the lowest tender.
Then run by a private company that will pay the staff very little.

[blutura]

The funny this is that Choice Magazine (I think) did a test on various brands of bottled water a few months ago and compared the results to tap water in various cities, and more than two thirds of the bottled water actually contained higher levels of harmful bacteria than tap water - and it wasn't only the no-name brands making up that two thirds either, there were some big names as well.

As has been said time and time again, people need to realise that the tap water we currently drink is not that clean. In fact, recycled sewage will actually be cleaner than most other treated water.

Bring it on I say.

[merlin]

Originally Posted by blutura

The funny this is that Choice Magazine (I think) did a test on various brands of bottled water a few months ago and compared the results to tap water in various cities, and more than two thirds of the bottled water actually contained higher levels of harmful bacteria than tap water - and it wasn't only the no-name brands making up that two thirds either, there were some big names as well.
.

I worked in a water testing laboratory for two years and can confirm this - bottled water contains higher levels of bacteria, yeasts and moulds as it stored for such a long time with no "preservatives" or chemicals added. The slightest contamination by humans - such as touching the lid with your finger during dispatching will add millions of bacteria to the bottled water. You wouldnt want to see an agar plate with a swab from so called "pure" bottled water after a few days at 25 degrees - trust me.

[fiery]

I don't drink the bottled water necessarily because I think it is better for me than the tap water here...

I drink it because the tap water here (Morayfield QLD) is disgusting...

It smells bad and tastes worse than it smells... A lot of people in my street alone buy bottled water... (so it isn't just me being a sook : )


I probably would drink the recycled water if I didn't have to know it was recycled... I actually don't know.. it depends on smell and taste personally..
:

[crusher]

Get a rain water tank.

We're on tank as we dont get mains water and i wouldnt have it any other way.

Alright so city folk wont be able to have as big a tank as us but it would be worth it. Get a tank for your drinking water and youll never want to drink mains or bottled again.

It would also help people use less water if they only had a certain amount of it. You wouldnt waste so much if you had to ration it would you. Quicker showers, more efficient washing machines and so forth.

[turboute]

If they are treating effluent then you would think that the government would bring in a standard for the water that specifically comes out of them - As long as it is well monitored then I cannot see the problem. If you are really anal about buy a filter for your tap which should stop 99.9% of bacteria coming through. Chances are most bacteria is killed during the teatment of our current water anyway and the real reason certain suburbs water tastes bad is due to the piping...

So I ticked the 'Yes'...

[Miss_XR6]

always drink tap water.. bottle water is sometimes more harmful

[OED666]

i said yes.

as previously said, the water in our dams has heaps of ***** in it already. dead animals, fish doing their business (producing more fish)... :P
its all media hype saying its all sewage, and its all new. as long as it treated, which i am sure it will be, its ok by me.

i would rather drink recycled water than see many people lose their homes and living for another dam. if the rain isnt falling a dam cant be the solution.

[DA68ZA]

Ticked no but when u think about it all water is recycled by nature :togo:

i half use it now for toilets and garden hoses (and wash my cars / hose my driveway with it)

[punkin]

we have a purification system at home where ALL water we use for cooking and drinking is put through. I lived in the UK for nearly 6 years and had no hesitation drinking the water there. Living in the city I'd have more trouble drinking the rainwater than drinking water out of tap.

[gozza]

Before i moved to Brisbane i lived in a little town called Grafton in NSW
We lived on a farm right on the Clarence River and all our water was gathered from the river with a pump

we used a UV filtration system...had the techincal looking filerting unit on the side of the house

[boss-290]

Err, hang on, we are surrounded by water. SEA WATER! Duh! :

If you are going to go through all that trouble treating human waste, why not use sea water, there is plenty and it will never run out!

[Bax]

Once again I'm agreeing with a lot of others here, why is there a big fuss about this- I don't think people are cracking up about the level of bacteria that’s going to be in the water, it’s the whole idea of drinking someones 1's and 2's.

Turns out the water from our area was actually slightly sewerage water for a fair bit, as further upstream a township dumped all their sewerage into the river. It made its way down to us, it got treated, we drank it.

The government- if willing to spend more money and labour they could re-route the 'treated' water for use with gardens, showers, toilets, airconditioning, anything that isn't consumed.. That way we'd get the best of both worlds, we'd still be drinking the same old water, which is still treated and full of nasties, and we'd be conserving it because 80% of our usage would be grey water.

Ocean water could be another option, then you'd have to consider pumping it inland with some of the places, which just doesn't seem to be an option. It makes sense though, theres a heap of seawater, it recycles back into the land, no matter what, the whole in the ozone has melted the ice for us, so we'll get more and more each year if we burn off more coal etc.

Theres a heap of options, but recycled water isn't the last on the list I'd say.