Recycled Water
Unpalatable as it may seem at the moment, Australians will ultimately accept recycled drinking water as millions of Americans already do, according to experts. The WateReuse Association, believes it will take a decade for the public to trust recycled water but says the rest of Australia will eventually follow Queensland's lead.
While the US does not have Australia's severe drought, water recycling is a way of life in the southwest of the country where the average rainfall is between seven and 12 inches a year. Fast growing cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson use recycled water as a matter of necessity. Six recycling facilities operate in the region with the water use ranging from golf courses and parks, crops to eventually being blended into drinking supplies.
The drinking water is treated to extremely high purity levels using microfiltration, reverse osmosis and a combination of ultra violet radiation and hydrogen peroxide. Australia will reach the cutting edge of recycling technology and all states, especially NSW, will follow Queensland. NSW has revived its plan to build a desalination plant, while West Australians are already drinking water from the Indian Ocean.
Sydney is growing rapidly and the water is going to have to come from somewhere, it may come from recycled water or from the ocean. All major cities in Australia and in the fast growing areas of the US have no choice but to go to water recycling and desalination.
Recycled drinking water is also widely used in many other advanced economies in Europe as well as in Israel and Singapore.
January 31, 2007 1:41 PM | Category: Drought, Technology, Water