23 November 2011

ICRC wants your thoughts on recycled water

| johnboy
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The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission has put out an issues paper asking for your thoughts on recycled water in the ACT and how it should be used.

To get everyone on the same page they’ve also produced a context paper.

Submissions can be sent to icrc@act.gov.au before 5pm, 20 December 2011.

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Keijidosha said :

The best thing Canberrans can do is simply use less water, and use what they have more efficiently.

I thin we’ve probably already done most of what we can given the current infrastructure. Until we have grey water networks and the like, it will be pretty hard to demand people use less.

Perhaps put a price on water such that building a grey water network becomes viable.

caf said :

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of point to using recycled water here – the Murrumbidgee River carries something like 400GL in and out of the ACT every year, and water is reasonably fungible. Rather than treat, say, 20GL of effluent to drinking quality and pump it up into the dams, we might as well just dump the 20GL into the river at LMWQCC and pump a different 20GL out at Angle Crossing.

For drinking water no doubt this is correct.

I still think there could be more use for recycled water for irrigation or toilet flushing.

In the overall scheme of things rainwater tanks and recycled water are a collossal waste of money for an inland city such as Canberra. The only reason these options are considered is to raise awareness about the value of water in a dry climate. The more water we capture or reuse here means less water for thousands of people downstream.

The best thing Canberrans can do is simply use less water, and use what they have more efficiently.

The main issue I have with recycled water is the financial pressure on any future operator to only perform the minimal possible amount of maintenance to pass and regular testing. Thus we will end up with water borne diseases entering the water supply due to cracks & fractures in pipes, membranes, filters or containment systems, or simple failure to install filters correctly (or at all).

No matter how well a particular technology works in the lab or in the public demonstration, it will end up breaking in actual use since an operator trying to extract maximum profit from a machine in its 20yr lifetime with take shortcuts such as extending the 12 month maintenance cycle to 13 months, leaving the 5 year maintenance till the 6th year, etc.

kakosi said :

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

You don’t get it do you? How long have you lived in Canberra? Do you understand that the dams only get to 100% every few years, with 3-10 years in between? Do you understand that Australia is the land of droughts and flooding rains?

Just because the dams are at 100% today doesn’t mean we’re not going to experience another five year period with little to no rainfall.

I’d prefer to see discussion about filtering/treating rainwater from tanks in the back yard. If you’re prepared to accept industrial quality water recycling, you could start with the water in your back yard. Rain water only needs some basic filtration and treatment (to prevent things like e.coli or other faeces-borne diseases) to be potable.

There are many ways to reduce each household’s consumption of ACTEW-supplied drinking water: push to get untreated rain water used to flush toilets and wash clothes, provide subsidies for low-income house-owners to install rain water harvesting systems for example.

Of course, as a landlord I’d love to see subsidies for rental properties to install rain harvesting systems. Strictly for the purpose of increasing quality of life for tenants of course
🙂

dungfungus said :

There is one radioactive treatment that has to be flushed down the sewer for 14 minutes to get it out of the precincts of the hospital.

One would assume that if they start directly reusing water in Canberra then the hospital’s disposal permit gets revoked and they have to find some other means of disposing of their radioactive waste.

Deref said :

kakosi said :

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

We are at the beginning of the water flow – Canberra has the purest water of most Australian cities. Let’s not make our water as clean as Adelaides by recycling sewerage water. It’s not necessary with the enlargement of Cotter and the growth of water tanks connected to all new houses.

The drought’s over forever. We’ll never need to worry about water availability again.

And I look forward to the imminent return of Jesus.

Seriosly, He’s comming back?

Sweet, that guy owes me $50!

Mumbucks said :

Deref said :

kakosi said :

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

We are at the beginning of the water flow – Canberra has the purest water of most Australian cities. Let’s not make our water as clean as Adelaides by recycling sewerage water. It’s not necessary with the enlargement of Cotter and the growth of water tanks connected to all new houses.

The drought’s over forever. We’ll never need to worry about water availability again.

And I look forward to the imminent return of Jesus.

Your sarcasms lost on me.

Sorry the last post should read. Your sarcasm is lost on me.

Deref said :

kakosi said :

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

We are at the beginning of the water flow – Canberra has the purest water of most Australian cities. Let’s not make our water as clean as Adelaides by recycling sewerage water. It’s not necessary with the enlargement of Cotter and the growth of water tanks connected to all new houses.

The drought’s over forever. We’ll never need to worry about water availability again.

And I look forward to the imminent return of Jesus.

Your sarcasms lost on me.

caf said :

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of point to using recycled water here – the Murrumbidgee River carries something like 400GL in and out of the ACT every year, and water is reasonably fungible. Rather than treat, say, 20GL of effluent to drinking quality and pump it up into the dams, we might as well just dump the 20GL into the river at LMWQCC and pump a different 20GL out at Angle Crossing.

Best idea yet.

bitzermaloney10:59 am 24 Nov 11

Implement subsidised septic tanks for everyone (which can then be used to water our gardens) and they won’t need to worry about a recycled water policy.

Of of the world’s most respected experts in the field, Professor Peter Collignon, (who works at Canberra Hospital) has gone on record many times as saying that the mixing of recycled water with the general water supply is an unacceptable risk. Until someone of equal or higher international status proves otherwise, I’ll go with that.

But the use of recycled water for strictly non-potable use seems to me to be a complete no-brainer.

Whatever happened to the Dickson water mining project?

dvaey said :

Solidarity said :

Meh, tastes the same as water does now, so use it for whatever.

Actually, not quite. Pure recycled water, is way more pure than the water we currently drink now. Infact, in order to make recycled water more suitable for drinking, it has to be pumped through the dams so it can collect minerals and be treated the same as all our other drinking water.

What about all the nasty drugs that are excreted by humans undergoing cancer treatment? There is one radioactive treatment that has to be flushed down the sewer for 14 minutes to get it out of the precincts of the hospital. Even the “shandy” of “pure” water pumped into storage dams will not remove these residual drugs. We have heaps of stored water for hosehold use so let’s send the recycled stuff down the river.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of point to using recycled water here – the Murrumbidgee River carries something like 400GL in and out of the ACT every year, and water is reasonably fungible. Rather than treat, say, 20GL of effluent to drinking quality and pump it up into the dams, we might as well just dump the 20GL into the river at LMWQCC and pump a different 20GL out at Angle Crossing.

Solidarity said :

Meh, tastes the same as water does now, so use it for whatever.

Actually, not quite. Pure recycled water, is way more pure than the water we currently drink now. Infact, in order to make recycled water more suitable for drinking, it has to be pumped through the dams so it can collect minerals and be treated the same as all our other drinking water.

Meh, tastes the same as water does now, so use it for whatever.

kakosi said :

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

We are at the beginning of the water flow – Canberra has the purest water of most Australian cities. Let’s not make our water as clean as Adelaides by recycling sewerage water. It’s not necessary with the enlargement of Cotter and the growth of water tanks connected to all new houses.

The drought’s over forever. We’ll never need to worry about water availability again.

And I look forward to the imminent return of Jesus.

wildturkeycanoe6:00 am 24 Nov 11

kakosi – you nailed it, that was perfect. You are the X-factor!

Oh for goodness sake – our dams have been overflowing for months, the drought is over and yet they are still flogging the recycled water concept.

We are at the beginning of the water flow – Canberra has the purest water of most Australian cities. Let’s not make our water as clean as Adelaides by recycling sewerage water. It’s not necessary with the enlargement of Cotter and the growth of water tanks connected to all new houses.

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