Australian’s are likely to have to rely on drinking recycled water, including treated sewage, to guarantee supply in coming decades.
A peak independent research organisation - the Australian Academy of Technological Services and Engineering - will today (Wednesday) release a report that says recycling water is the best way to combat future droughts and it is crucial that towns and cities begin planning as such.
The report finds recycled water is better for the environment, uses less energy, requires lower capital and costs up to half as much to operate as the most valid alternative of desalination.
The biggest obstacle is the “yuck factor” - however the report’s lead author Dr Stuart Khan is confident we will be able to overcome that.
“Always when you talk about recycled water for drinking there are people in the community who are very uncomfortable with that, or are opposed to that. There is a slightly controversial angle to it,” says Dr Khan, a water specialist at the University of New South Wales.
“There is a fringe of people who will never be happy. But for the mainstream, certainly the water industry itself recognises we need to do more to recycle water.”
Dr Mark O’Donohue, the chief executive officer of the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence, said the independent review by Dr Khan was commissioned to address issues created by “a growing population and a drying climate”.
“We will face a significant challenge in the future finding enough water (for urban drinking supply and farming),” Dr Donohue said.
“Water recycling is definitely going to be one component that Australia is going to need to secure our future water supply.”
Dr Khan said social acceptance was “where the big challenges lie” and people should not dismiss recycled water simply “because we don’t like it”.
He said regulations and safety protocols needed to be strengthened and maintained to ensure trust in the sector - and the example of many cities in the United States proved the safety of recycled water.
Dr Khan said the time frame for when Australian cities would need to start investing in water recycling plants was “very difficult to answer” but it was “inevitable” that many parts of the country would require them within this century.
“I see that if we’re going to have increasing population pressures, increasing climate pressures in many areas, we really do need to get a lot smarter (about water supply),” he said.
“(Recycled water is) certainly the way that all water supply systems will have to go at some point.”
The most important result of his report was for local governments and their residents to be aware of the issues faced by future droughts and the options for a sustainable supply of drinking water.
“Within a decade or so I think there will be other towns and cities that will start to be having to answer some of the questions” about how they sustain their supply of drinking water, he said.
