Drinking Recycled Sewage

[FLYXR6]

looks like toowoomba voted no to recycled waste water. wonder if this will affect there flower show every year?

[MITCHAY]

I heard about this on the radio. The funny thing was the person said "You wouldn't know it was recycled unless you were told." Why the hell would you tell people then?

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by FLYXR6

looks like toowoomba voted no to recycled waste water. wonder if this will affect there flower show every year?

they have a flower show? madness... utter madness...

Smoked: A good point you raise here, something I had not considered! I'm not too knowledgable on the GAB, but our local aquifer in the Latrobe Valley has the coal-fired power stations situated in the middle of it. Its recharge point is to the west, near Inverloch, and its discharge point is near the Gippsland Lakes. The Lakes are taking a hammering from all sides, through reduced inflow from rivers, and although I don't think there has been a comprehensive study on the matter, the power stations would be having an impact on the water table.

Reason? The open cut mines have pumping stations dotted throughout them to stop the mines from flooding with groundwater. Intentional drawdown caused by this is up to 180m, and who knows how great the radius of influence is... But some people here are suggesting it is impacting on the Gippsland Lakes.

Utilising bore water can be a dangerous game peoples, a fair amount of Australia is buggered due to overuse of bore water. Other reasons for this include deforestation, where the deep-rooted gum trees acted as regulators, keeping the salts and minerals locked deep down, and to keep the water table's subsurface levels in check. The salination problems you see are due to this balance being disturbed, with salts and minerals making their way towards, or even to the surface.

-Dave-

[fordfuntastic]

OK Sorry Ill be serious MO! You have to be joking who would want to DRINK recycled sewage water? Are the people of Australia really wanting pollution as their drinking water? I just cant believe that one could "stomach" that. Maybe Canberra should be the FIRST to trial this purification system.

Who are these morons that want to use people as "experimental" scapegoats? Sewage and other contaminants end up as waste and so it should be! PERIOD ooops thats another byproduct YUCK!

What next bottled ECOLI Breezers and EBOLI shots? Or DNA AIDS scooner spike stubbies?

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by fordfuntastic

OK Sorry Ill be serious MO! You have to be joking who would want to DRINK recycled sewage water? Are the people of Australia really wanting pollution as their drinking water? I just cant believe that one could "stomach" that. Maybe Canberra should be the FIRST to trial this purification system.

Who are these morons that want to use people as "experimental" scapegoats? Sewage and other contaminants end up as waste and so it should be! PERIOD ooops thats another byproduct YUCK!

What next bottled ECOLI Breezers and EBOLI shots? Or DNA AIDS scooner spike stubbies?

Have you read anything in this thread?

[39ClevoUte]

There was a story on telly about a year ago about the hormone problem. Unfortunately I can only remember the main detail and not where or the process used. It was about a scientist studing small fish down stream from sewerage works. They were growing giant Pen()is (in relation to their bodies). It was caused by the excess hormones passed via urine in women.
Needless to say there are two options:
1) leave it as it is and let's all get on to this stuff, I'd love a giant Pen()is. Based on these fish I'd end up with at least 30cm.
2) Improve the systems used and then drink it.

( How !@#$ you can't use the word PEN()IS )

[ltd]

In Sydney we have all of our water problems licked. The NSW government just got a shipment from the Cherokee indians in the United States, and Morris Iemma, Frank Sartor, Carl Scully, Joe Tripodi, Reba Meagher, Michael Costa and Eric Roozendaal are going to put frocks on, dance to the cherokee drums; and basically perform an old fashioned rain dance. Phew, we're all saved.
Only problem is this option cost the taxpayers 400 million in the enquiry and subsequent study into it's effectiveness.

I voted yes, as the way we can treat water these days is amazing, and you'll never tell the difference anyway.

[ltd]

54Ghia, I've got 30cm but I don't use it as a rule

[39ClevoUte]

Well imagine what you'd end up with....... A tap measure...

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by ltd

I voted yes, as the way we can treat water these days is amazing, and you'll never tell the difference anyway.

Exactly. The nasties are removed by chemical, biological and mechanical means, and purified water is left over.

Water is water after all, no matter where you're drinking it.

[normxb]

I'm sure it was last night , on the Discovery Channel there was a program covering "recycled or treated water" (now, does that sound better) was on pretty late , there are a couple of big cities in the "states" and also in Europe who are already using the system , so we won't be the Guinea Pigs , there's also Desalination (sp) plants in the Middle East & the Yanks had "portable" ones in Iraq .
You know what the Aussies are like , they improve on anything, so if they build some here they'll be "state of the art" & best in the world ... Look what country is leading in medical research === Australia ! ! !

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by ltd

54Ghia, I've got 30cm but I don't use it as a rule

yet you're a Professional Stunt Butt?

[Dazza XLT]

More than 61 per cent of Toowoomba residents opposed drinking recycled waste water, with a total of 60,231 people eligible to vote in the referendum.
Soon enough, the decision will be made for them!
Maybe they should re-word the poll.
In the future, would you-
A) Drink and use recycled water for day to day use.
B) Just go without water altogether
C) Build a expensive pipeline from Nth QLD, and pay through the teeth for water each year.
Everyone thinks.... Yeah build a pipe to Nth QLD, it will be right. No worries.
They will no doubt expect the state government to fork out for this while maintaining a cheap price for water... Won't happen...
Why build another dam, when we don't have enough rainfall to fill the dams we have???
(Stepping off the soapbox now)

Cheers

[ltd]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

yet you're a Professional Stunt Butt?

Yes, whenever a butt is required in a stunt, who ya gonna call?

You would've seen me in those ads you used to see late on TV with the girl slapping the other girls butt whilst washing the car, that was me (the shaving was the killer).
Also, in that aussie film were the kid gets the strap at school, that was me.
Bad Boy Bubby and the jail scene - definately NOT me.
In the 2001 re-creation of "le petomane", all the action shots were done by me too. So the life of a stunt butt is a thankless one, and it can be a pain in the *** too.

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by ltd

Yes, whenever a butt is required in a stunt, who ya gonna call?

You would've seen me in those ads you used to see late on TV with the girl slapping the other girls butt whilst washing the car, that was me (the shaving was the killer).
Also, in that aussie film were the kid gets the strap at school, that was me.
Bad Boy Bubby and the jail scene - definately NOT me.
In the 2001 re-creation of "le petomane", all the action shots were done by me too. So the life of a stunt butt is a thankless one, and it can be a pain in the *** too.

but... you could've been a stunt, erm, rooster in Orgasmo!

[EB Pete]

[QUOTE=Ghia5L]they have a flower show? madness... utter madness...[QUOTE]

yeah it's the most boaring thing i have ever seen. Toowoomba - The garden city! the inner city has tuned to using coloured bark now as we can't water the plants.

anyway no doubt the council will hold a metting with all the employees in the next few days and i'll find out what the plan is. should be very interesting. i can see the pipeline to wivenhoe (however you spell it) going ahead aswell as the water from the rural towns.

pete j

[bArNsY]

I say if the technology is there use it!
Adam

[mcflux]

[QUOTE=EB Pete][QUOTE=Ghia5L]they have a flower show? madness... utter madness...

yeah it's the most boaring thing i have ever seen. Toowoomba - The garden city! the inner city has tuned to using coloured bark now as we can't water the plants.

anyway no doubt the council will hold a metting with all the employees in the next few days and i'll find out what the plan is. should be very interesting. i can see the pipeline to wivenhoe (however you spell it) going ahead aswell as the water from the rural towns.

pete j

Looking forward to hearing what their ideas are pete ;)

Cheers

-Dave-

[schmidty]

A good idea that they are trialing donw here is the use of 2 seperate water supplies. Basically the main part of the house is serviced buy ordinary drinking water, then the garden taps and toilets are supplied with recycled water. It goes down a lot better with the residents than the idea of mixing the 2, but there is increased costs involved with the need for 2 seperate mains in the street, and 2 seperate services to the house. Another option though none the less.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by schmidty

A good idea that they are trialing donw here is the use of 2 seperate water supplies. Basically the main part of the house is serviced buy ordinary drinking water, then the garden taps and toilets are supplied with recycled water. It goes down a lot better with the residents than the idea of mixing the 2, but there is increased costs involved with the need for 2 seperate mains in the street, and 2 seperate services to the house. Another option though none the less.

An excellent idea, I hate flushing the toilet with perfectly clean, drinking quality water.

Panda

[mcflux]

The costs for this setup would be enormous though. We're talking about a >100,000 population city here!

But a good thought nonetheless. There are some towns in Gippsland having this setup implemented in the near future, which should result in great water savings.

I believe retrofitting existing households with a three-pipe system (potable/grey/sewer) would be a good idea.

Fresh water goes to the kitchen (sinks, dishwasher), laundry, shower, bath...

Greywater (used water) from the above locations bar the kitchen are pumped/piped to a header tank. Outdoors water sources (taps for the garden hose, water features, etc) and the toilet cistern use this greywater.

Toilet and kitchen feed into sewer.

Perhaps this system would be best implemented whenever a new homeowner/renter accommodates their place of residence, and some kind of rebate be applied?

Pros?
Greater water savings, less impact on sewer system.

Cons?
Space required for tank.
Difficulty with making tank attractive/feng shui, etc
Cost of extra piping, difficulties with implementing depending on dwelling design
Cost of pump (initial purchase, O&M)

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

The costs for this setup would be enormous though. We're talking about a >100,000 population city here!

But a good thought nonetheless. There are some towns in Gippsland having this setup implemented in the near future, which should result in great water savings.

I believe retrofitting existing households with a three-pipe system (potable/grey/sewer) would be a good idea.

Fresh water goes to the kitchen (sinks, dishwasher), laundry, shower, bath...

Greywater (used water) from the above locations bar the kitchen are pumped/piped to a header tank. Outdoors water sources (taps for the garden hose, water features, etc) and the toilet cistern use this greywater.

Toilet and kitchen feed into sewer.

Perhaps this system would be best implemented whenever a new homeowner/renter accommodates their place of residence, and some kind of rebate be applied?

Pros?
Greater water savings, less impact on sewer system.

Cons?
Space required for tank.
Difficulty with making tank attractive/feng shui, etc
Cost of extra piping, difficulties with implementing depending on dwelling design
Cost of pump (initial purchase, O&M)

Grey water is kind of a bit different to using treated sewage. And retrofitting is such a big job it's a joke! You basically need all of your grey water to go to a tank below ground level so it can be collected and reused. A 3 pipe system would se so involved and take up so much space, because think about it, you've go to collect the water below ground level and then pump back into the house for use. So all of your existing sewer would need to be dug up, toilets re connected to it, and over flow from your storage tank connected to it, all of your other grey water sources connected to you tank, would need a valve for when the water runs out so it can switch over to mains, no to mention the internal piping. In victoria it is illegal to discharge grey water above ground level from what i know.

By having the 2 seperate mains, fresh and treated water, if adopted it will only apply to new houses where the infastructure has been put in place. Depending on the level of treatment of the water this could eventually be extended to showers too. but i doubt they will. The cost retrofitting this system would still hugely outweigh the saving, and if there are no saving, realistically only a few greenies are going to fork out the money.

Currently down here, with the compulsory 5 star energy rating for new homes we are required to have either a solar hot water system (which is a joke down here) or a water tank and pump to flush the toilets. In some cases both. The savings from having an instant gas boosted solar hws are about $150 - $200 per year compared to an instant gas hws. The units usually cost around $5 - $6k and have a life span of no more than 7 - 10 years. Therefore making no economic sense, and due to the climate, barely work most of the year anyway!

Using our recycled water is 1 move that does make sense and it's about time they persued it hard and did sometihng about it.

[fordfuntastic]

GHIA 5L Read this-


Will you drink recycled sewage? POLL vote

and this-

Drinking Recycled Sewage [ at start of thread.



So what have you missed?

What is wrong with YOU people? Would you really accept sewage for your DRINKING WATER? FAR OUT!

UNBELIEVABLE

I think you guys would be contented with a pipeline direct from the Ganges for your base drink and the waste from ALL the hospitals, dental surgeries that end up as sewage, for your drink. LOL. It may be purified but to be aware of its origin is the knowledge of what most would not accept. My family and I and friends have had a real laugh. True most water has contaminants but its the parts per billion that is the critical factor. Why use concentrated sewage? Oh well you have choices so be it! Drink it to your hearts content but all I can say

YUK

[EB Pete]

Originally Posted by schmidty

Currently down here, with the compulsory 5 star energy rating for new homes we are required to have either a solar hot water system (which is a joke down here) or a water tank and pump to flush the toilets. In some cases both. The savings from having an instant gas boosted solar hws are about $150 - $200 per year compared to an instant gas hws. The units usually cost around $5 - $6k and have a life span of no more than 7 - 10 years. Therefore making no economic sense, and due to the climate, barely work most of the year anyway!

Using our recycled water is 1 move that does make sense and it's about time they persued it hard and did sometihng about it.

thats a joke! you use rain water to flush the toilet? i would much rather drink the tank water and flush the toilet with town water! it's a pretty good idea anyway. and i guess it wouldn't bother to many ppl seeing as they don't have to drink it. but they could always make 6000 gallon tanks compulsory on new houses and if you get bigger the concil pay the difference. our family of 6 lives off 11000 gallons and it has never run out.

[blakeyboy]

i will...

the main issue with this senario is miss-information..

in the real world with real engineers and real scientists running such a system the water quality would most likely be better than the current systems in place.

the problem is that they asked the public and the public in general is uninformed, emotional and not qualified.

the goverment should have simply just installed such a system and been done with it.. would be better for the economy the environment and the people..
but how about we all get passionate and emotional and on our soapboxes and not be progressive.

[mcflux]

Originally Posted by schmidty

Grey water is kind of a bit different to using treated sewage. And retrofitting is such a big job it's a joke! You basically need all of your grey water to go to a tank below ground level so it can be collected and reused. A 3 pipe system would se so involved and take up so much space, because think about it, you've go to collect the water below ground level and then pump back into the house for use. So all of your existing sewer would need to be dug up, toilets re connected to it, and over flow from your storage tank connected to it, all of your other grey water sources connected to you tank, would need a valve for when the water runs out so it can switch over to mains, no to mention the internal piping. In victoria it is illegal to discharge grey water above ground level from what i know.

By having the 2 seperate mains, fresh and treated water, if adopted it will only apply to new houses where the infastructure has been put in place. Depending on the level of treatment of the water this could eventually be extended to showers too. but i doubt they will. The cost retrofitting this system would still hugely outweigh the saving, and if there are no saving, realistically only a few greenies are going to fork out the money.

Currently down here, with the compulsory 5 star energy rating for new homes we are required to have either a solar hot water system (which is a joke down here) or a water tank and pump to flush the toilets. In some cases both. The savings from having an instant gas boosted solar hws are about $150 - $200 per year compared to an instant gas hws. The units usually cost around $5 - $6k and have a life span of no more than 7 - 10 years. Therefore making no economic sense, and due to the climate, barely work most of the year anyway!

Using our recycled water is 1 move that does make sense and it's about time they persued it hard and did sometihng about it.

Good point regarding the grey water, but your three pipe proposal sent me off on a tangent with a slightly different idea (grey water, rather then recycled wastewater).

Yes, totalling the individual costings relating to reconfiguring households for three-pipe-systems (using grey water) would cost more than simply setting up a "universal" servicing system.

But if some kind of legislation was brought through so that every time a dwelling changes tenants, a "user-pays" scheme (subsidised) be used so that existing houses are retrofitted with individual grey-water systems, and new-built houses be built with these systems from scratch.

A bit of a pipe-dream (no pun intended) I know, but it's one possibility (barring the no-grey-water-above-surface current legislation you mention).

Paying for a three-pipe reticulation network would be a nightmare too however. Not only would the initial capital costs need to come from somewhere, but the third pipe (in this case recycled wastewater, rather than untreated household greywater) would need to somehow fit in with all the other services in the area. Sewers, stormwater drains, water mains, telecommunications, gas, underground electricity... It would be a Dial Before You Dig nightmare. But in the long run it would be very smart, just unaffordable for now :(

fordfuntastic: you really don't have a handle on the concept of such processes as filtration, purification, and general water treatment, do you?

Based on your philosophy, how's your meat & vegies going? You *do* eat meat & vegies don't you? They thrive off manure and other wastes through varying degrees of directness. You're eating "modified" manure/wastes every time you eat your steak & roast vegies. Think about that next time the gravy is dribbling down your chin at the dinner table ;) ;)

Bon apetit! :monkes:

[LUXO_8]

Originally Posted by Ghia5L

fordfuntastic: you really don't have a handle on the concept of such processes as filtration, purification, and general water treatment, do you?

Based on your philosophy, how's your meat & vegies going? You *do* eat meat & vegies don't you? They thrive off manure and other wastes through varying degrees of directness. You're eating "modified" manure/wastes every time you eat your steak & roast vegies. Think about that next time the gravy is dribbling down your chin at the dinner table ;) ;)

Bon apetit! :monkes:

bwahahahaha
good call

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by EB Pete

thats a joke! you use rain water to flush the toilet? i would much rather drink the tank water and flush the toilet with town water! it's a pretty good idea anyway. and i guess it wouldn't bother to many ppl seeing as they don't have to drink it. but they could always make 6000 gallon tanks compulsory on new houses and if you get bigger the concil pay the difference. our family of 6 lives off 11000 gallons and it has never run out.

Down here the waterboard and others do not recommend drinking tank water and i think it even states it on the stickers on the roofing iron. I think its a jok, we've always been drinking tankwater, never had any problems. Buy yeah, hows that. They say its not suitable for drinking.

[fordfuntastic]

LOL Definately a debate! I couldnt bother any further! You WIN ****e and ALL! IMAO

[schmidty]

Originally Posted by fordfuntastic

GHIA 5L Read this-


Will you drink recycled sewage? POLL vote

and this-

Drinking Recycled Sewage [ at start of thread.



So what have you missed?

What is wrong with YOU people? Would you really accept sewage for your DRINKING WATER? FAR OUT!

UNBELIEVABLE

I think you guys would be contented with a pipeline direct from the Ganges for your base drink and the waste from ALL the hospitals, dental surgeries that end up as sewage, for your drink. LOL. It may be purified but to be aware of its origin is the knowledge of what most would not accept. My family and I and friends have had a real laugh. True most water has contaminants but its the parts per billion that is the critical factor. Why use concentrated sewage? Oh well you have choices so be it! Drink it to your hearts content but all I can say

YUK

Fact of the matter is, town water isn't a closed loop from the sky to your kitchen tap. Its all bene contaminated to some degree. Somewhere along the lines it will travel through open creeks, rivers, channels and whatever else in the catchment. It may be pumped onto farms along the way, irrigated with, and then the runoff goes back into the catchment area. Thats why at the end of the line bfore it goes into the supply network it is treated to make it safe. If the sewage is treated properly, and mixed back into the supply there should be no dramas. But i still think the method being trialed down here where there are 2 seperate supply lines for treated water, and for drinking water are going to go down a lot better with the users, and also is more of a failsafe as if there is a breakdown in the treatment process somewhere along the line the consequences arent as severe.