Salty water anytime, but we won’t drink sewage!

This is a true win-win for humankind and the environment. Ironically, desalinated water does the opposite, by increasing water demand and hence wastewater treatment and returning more high pollutant loads to our rivers, as well as returning the desalinated water waste stream to the oceans.

Fourthly, creating potable recycled water production uses about 1/3^rd the energy of desalinated water.

In 1994, one of the early consumer surveys of 5000 people in Queensland and NSW had 26% of respondents totally in favour, 76% willing to try given adequate safeguards and only 5% said no to drinking recycled water.

But since politicians, the media and vested interests started their campaign against potable water recycling, surveys investigating this opportunity have been view and far between. An internal Sydney Water Corporation (SWC) attitude survey in 2005 showed strong support for potable recycled water, but the Minister was not impressed, and all copies of the document disappeared from the SWC publicly accessible library.

By 2007, a University study funded by the water industry showed the 1994 status had dropped to only 11% acceptance and risen to 30% "disgusting" attitude. Not surprising given the negative hyperbole put out by NSW Ministers.

Politicians, the water industry (operators, research scientists and bureaucrats) and financially well backed activist groups like "STOP" in full have prevented the common sense, sustainable, save and environmentally beneficial potable water recycling projects that have been proposed over the last 20 years, and now as a consequence we have expensive desalination plants and calls for more dams to be built.

It's about time we, the consumers of water were told the truth, exposed to the facts and not have their opinions shaped by these vested political, financial scientific, bureaucratic interests. Over the last 35 years, I have worked within the water industry, regulatory side of government, academia and now as an independent water consultant. I have observed the behaviour and distortions of the truth. This is probably my third or fourth "Groundhog Day" experience with water crises, and until the public wakes up to common-sense, I fear there will be more Groundhog Day cycles to come… the only thing in common with the natural water cycle. It's up to you, the people who take water for granted, to start asking questions about what our water industry, politicians and media tell us.