Seriously, why does everyone have a problem with drinking 'treated' sewerage water?

There's the key word... TREATED

Do you honestly think they're gonna' serve it up to you in a glass with a goddamn floater in it?

'Treated.'


I know we all have a problem with the word sewerage, but we're in the middle of a water crisis at the minute. After all,  Melbourne is going to run out of water within the next ten years at this rate...

So what's the problem?

I'm fine with it.

I see treated sewerage water as being a big-spend decision, just as the alternative of treated stormwater run-off would be. I would hate to think how much oil, grease, brake dust and dog turds are in stormwater run-off. Water from both sources is going to have to be osmotically separated which has a huge energy cost. Just think - each litre of water required a bit of coal burning somewhere to make it clean.

But there is a third-alternative - and that is to harvest rainwater from roofs locally, keep it clean and use it to flush toilets and as an emergency household water supply. Unfortunately the current state governement rebates are not adequate to make their use more common, nor do the grants make it cost effective when one investigates the payback period of a tank. They could be financed to the individual household via a low-interest long-term loan - then the cost could be spread over the break-even term of the tank and thus become cost-neutral to the householder. Unfortunately this scheme would not put money into the hands of the corporate interests who stand to make hundreds of millions from any treated-water scheme.

I propose as a test that all of the sewerage from the respective parliaments be recycled and politicians and their families be forced to use it exclusively. See how that goes down.

Do you have a cost comparison for tank water vs recycling? One advantage of recycling is that the infrastructure is mostly there already. You just need to join the sewer back up to the intake. You don't have to get a plumber etc out to every single house. Whatever option we choose will have an energy cost.

Hi Freediver,

The figures from the respective policies for the Labor and Liberal parety NSW websites are:
Labor - Sydney $1.9 billion desalination plant at Kurnell (someone is going to make a bundle from that)
Liberal - Sydney $950 million for linking inland treatment plants (not clear if sewerage or stormwater - how would they store the stormwater until required?)

Now, at a conservative $3000 per installation, we could put tanks on ~ 630,000 sydney homes for this same $1.9 billion cost.

Would that achieve the same thing? The recycling plant would probably be able to deliver all the water for those homes, not just part of it.

The house I am currently in pays about $100 per year for water. I'm not sure if that is the full cost of supply, and whether it would go up to pay for a recycling plant. At $1000 or more for a tank setup, that would be at least a ten year payoff if it supplied all the water, but probably more like 30 to 200 years. You'd be lucky if the tank and house lasted that long. Maybe it makes economic sense with the subsidy, at least from a personal perspective, but I am running a lot of the roof runoff onto the ground and the first thing I would do is turn the other downpipes onto the lawn to water my trees. If you check the gardening section I also wrote up an article on greywater, which can be a very cheap option, depending on your house layout.

I have been drinking rainwater since i was a kid.Everyone in my hometown of Port Augusta had tanks.We had an average rainfall of under 10" and it was much more preferable than tap water.After a heavy rain all the dust from the roof would settle on the bottom in a couple of days and hey presto,clean clear sweet rainwater.Yum Yum

I have to agree with the rainwater tanks.  The tanks aren't too bad at between $1,000 - $2,000 depending on the size, but it's the added cost of the plumbing, pump and if you want to connect it to your house - the diverter.  I don't know why councils or governments don't loan people the money - even with a small interest payment - they could still make a profit.

At the moment I pay $500 in my rates towards maintenance of water pipes, sewerage etc. and about $140 for water.  We're on stage 4 restrictions.  Even if we put in tanks - we'd still have to pay all the council costs and a lot of us just can't afford it plus installing a tank connected to the house.

I can't see how Sydney Water makes much of a profit anyway - the constant maintenance of broken pipes would wipe out any extra cash.  With the recycling and desal plants - it's not only the fact they guzzle energy - I personally don't want to drink recycled sewerage.  Only a few western countries drink recycled sewerage - the rest manage on de-sal plants - but the environmental cost is too high a price to pay.

I think it's the other way round - most recycle and only a few use desal. We all drink recycled water from whoever is upstream anyway. Sewage that is treated far less rigourously goes straight back into our rivers.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Water-workers-fall-ill-from-unsafe-water/2007/03/20/1174153059782.html

At least 12 Melbourne Water workers have fallen ill after recycled water not fit for human consumption was mistakenly piped to a drinking tap at one of the authority's offices.

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'Strange' protest against recycled water

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Strange-protest-against-recycled-water/2007/03/20/1174153046674.html

A booklet claiming recycled water changes the sex of fish and causes infertility in humans is being distributed to Brisbane homes in an attempt to scuttle a plan to introduce it.

Campaign spokesman and Toowoomba councillor Snow Manners said information in the booklet, sourced from worldwide research, presented "the other side" of the debate to counter the "one-sided presentation" by the government and Queensland Water Commission.

Arguments in the booklet against the use of recycled water mostly centre on the devastating effects that would occur if chemicals make it through the filtering process.

Among its claims are that recycled water changed the sex of fish and made male lambs "start behaving like females".

It also claims the water reduces sperm counts, causes infertility among couples and triggers a doubling in liver cancer rates.

He said companies from outside Queensland could hurt the profit margins of drink companies in the state, warning consumers against "piss" drinks if recycled water was introduced.

He said recycled water should instead be used on non-food farming to free up irrigation water for drinking.

The Queensland government described the booklet as "scaremongering".

"This material is dishonest ... it is not based on sound and comprehensive science and it certainly does not put in the arena all of the facts," Acting Premier Anna Bligh said.

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Democrats urge water licence acquisition

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Democrats-urge-water-licence-acquisition/2007/03/20/1174153035825.html

The Australian Democrats have used an international report classing the Murray-Darling among the world's 10 most damaged river systems to call for compulsory acquisition of water licences.

A report by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature included the Murray-Darling among 10 of the world's great and most threatened rivers, which it said were suffering "most grievously under the weight of these threats, or bracing for the heaviest impacts".

It found that in the Murray-Darling, which drains 14 per cent of Australia's landmass, invasive species like the European carp were the main threat to the ecosystem.

Other threats included salinity, river regulation and climate change.

Well, if you can drink VB or Bintang.
Then you can drink any water that's had turds in it.

ex-member DonaldTrump wrote on Feb 17^th, 2007 at 1:08am:

Seriously, why does everyone have a problem with drinking 'treated' sewerage water? There's the key word... TREATED Do you honestly think they're gonna' serve it up to you in a glass with a goddamn floater in it? 'Treated.' I know we all have a problem with the word sewerage, but we're in the middle of a water crisis at the minute. After all,  Melbourne is going to run out of water within the next ten years at this rate... So what's the problem?

When Councils can & do phuq up treating dam/stream or underground water .....

you don't think there's a possibility it could happen with a town or cities treated effluent water?

Drink it down - can't hurt you.... Toowoomba Underground Spring Water in bottles.... drawn from the finest sewerage treatment plants...

The TROUBLE is that even the treated town water supply in many places in nearly undrinkable.... I love my water tanks..... home before last the water left a white skin on the windows of the car after washing it... WTF??

Why would anyone trust TREATED sewer water?  They can't even get natural water right....

On another note - the major city centres NEED to run out of water and drown in their own sewerage so that the idiots planning this country will cop their long-overdue wakeup call.  The sooner those cess-pits fall the better for all....  this country is in need of a massive overhaul, but not along the lines put forward by any major party.... it needs to get back to itself and drop all the bullshit and work for all people equally.

Check comments on Albo's 'politics needs more inclusion'...  ::)  ::)  ::)

.
I came across this tik toc vid … thought it was interesting…
.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdbowp8S/?k=1

Grappler Truth Teller Feller wrote on Jun 1^st, 2022 at 6:09pm:

Drink it down - can't hurt you.... Toowoomba Underground Spring Water in bottles.... drawn from the finest sewerage treatment plants... The TROUBLE is that even the treated town water supply in many places in nearly undrinkable.... I love my water tanks..... home before last the water left a white skin on the windows of the car after washing it... WTF?? Why would anyone trust TREATED sewer water?  They can't even get natural water right.... On another note - the major city centres NEED to run out of water and drown in their own sewerage so that the idiots planning this country will cop their long-overdue wakeup call.  The sooner those cess-pits fall the better for all....  this country is in need of a massive overhaul, but not along the lines put forward by any major party.... it needs to get back to itself and drop all the bullshit and work for all people equally. Check comments on Albo's 'politics needs more inclusion'...  ::)  ::)  ::)

Agree.

Sophia wrote on Jun 1^st, 2022 at 11:32pm:

. I came across this tik toc vid … thought it was interesting… . https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSdbowp8S/?k=1

Pretty neat.
Before 1788 - most waterways were crystal clear. You could see the bottom of the Murray River.

I worked on the design of the South Eastern Purification Plant (SEPP) in
the late 1960s in Carrum Downs, south of Melbourne.  It processes raw
sewage from the surrounding suburbs into into Class A recycled water.

There was shock and horror from the greenies when the then MMBW
announced that its purified outfall would enter the bay at Boag's Beach
on the Bass Strait coastline.

I well remember the chairman of the MMBW, Alan Croxford holding a glass
under the outfall water, and then happily drinking the entire glassful.