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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Would you drink recycled water?

Background

In most modern cities, sewage from homes and industry flows into the sewerage system, is treated at a treatment plant and discharged into the oceans. Yet it could be reused to water parks and gardens.

Melbourne Water is taking a great interest in different ways of recycling and reusing treated sewage to help conserve and maximise the use of our water resources.

The recycling plant
One initiative was the trialling of an on-site water recycling plant and irrigation system in the King's Domain gardens in Melbourne during 2002. The aim was to demonstrate that water from sewers could be successfully recycled and used to irrigate parks and gardens.

The recycling plant is housed in a portable shipping container and uses the latest membrane technology to deliver 30,000 litres of high quality, recycled water each day. The plant uses 1.4 W of energy for each litre of recycled water at a cost of 1.4 cents per litre.
How does it work?

Raw sewage is pumped from the sewer, screened and fine screened. Particulates larger than 3 mm are returned to the sewer. During the first stage of the process, the membrane bioreactor reduces organics and removes particles in the product water down to 0.04 micron using an aerobic biological treatment process coupled with an ultrafiltration separation membrane.

During the second stage, the water is treated by reverse osmosis to reduce nutrients, pathogens and salts to acceptable levels. Before passing through the reverse osmosis unit, the water is preconditioned through filtering, UV (ultra violet) disinfection and descaling to avoid fouling the reverse osmosis membranes.

A rigorous testing program will be carried out during the trial to ensure that recycled water meets EPA and Department of Human Services health requirements. The purpose of it is to demonstrate the technology to the public. Make them comfortable with the fact that you can actually use sewage as a resource rather than a waste.
 
1. What is recycled water?

Recycled is water that can be used safely in a wide range of applications to help conserve our drinking water supplies.

The recycled water brand will apply to projects which use treated recycled water and which have received all necessary regulatory approvals. The class of water used will be 'fit for purpose', that is, it will vary according to the specific application, although all will be classified as recycled water.

2. Is recycled water presently in use?

Recycled water is already being used in a wide range of applications, including the irrigation of agriculture, parklands and golf courses. Uptake of this new resource is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years as the infrastructure and treatment processes required for growth in the recycled water market develop.

3. Can households use recycled water?

Recycled water projects presently focus on large-scale agricultural and irrigation projects.

In the future, new housing developments may have third pipe facilities, which allow for the use of recycled water for non-drinking applications. This will be an opportunity to use recycled water.

4. How will recycled water affect me?

Recycled water will not have any direct impact on you and you are unlikely to be exposed to recycled water in your daily life.

In general terms recycled water will make a positive contribution to our environment and to our community through the better use and protection of our natural resources, greater security of water supplies, increased use of dry land for enhanced agriculture and the development of a sustainable community.

Recycled water will not be offered as a domestic resource for existing homes, although it may be considered as an extra resource for some new housing developments in the future. This may involve a third pipe system for garden watering.

5. Why is recycled water being introduced?

Recycled water will generate enormous benefits to the State through the better use and protection of our natural resources, greater security of water supplies, opening up dry land for agricultural use and the development of a sustainable community. Water is a precious resource, yet less than 10 per cent of Australia's urban and industrial water is recycled.

Melburnians use 480,000 million litres of potable (drinking) water per year. Much of this is for uses that do not require the standard of drinking water, and could be substituted with recycled water.

Water recycling is a socially, environmentally and economically viable solution to the preservation of Victoria's valuable drinking water supplies.

6. What are the benefits of using recycled water?

Recycled water has many benefits. It reduces the demand on fresh water and makes use of a precious resource that currently goes to waste. Water recycling can defer or even prevent the need to build further potable water storages, which are increasingly unacceptable to the community. Water recycling schemes also protect the environment by reducing the discharge of treated effluent to bays and the ocean, and create employment and economic growth.

Recycled water use reduces freshwater impacts and encourages economic development.

Water recycling has the potential to create jobs and boost several industries while protecting the marine environment.

Recycled water is becoming an increasingly important supply option that will help improve the long-term security and sustainability of our water resources and defer the need to build further storages for potable drinking water.

Broader analysis indicates that economic benefits to Victoria could be worth $590 million and 1,000 jobs during the next 20 years could be available through water recycling schemes.

7. How can recycled water be used?

In general terms, the current quality of water treated at Melbourne Water's sewage treatment plants can be used for crops such as tree plantations, vineyards and general agriculture and irrigation of golf courses and parklands under controlled conditions.
Washing a car with recycled water

With further treatment to Class A, recycled water can be used in a less restrictive fashion including on vegetable crops and overhead spray irrigation. Water requirements for more sensitive uses such as non-potable residential, recreational water bodies or aquifer recharge need to be developed on a case-by-case basis.

8. Where does recycled water come from?

In most cases around metropolitan Melbourne, the source for recycled water will be one of Melbourne Water's two sewage treatment facilities - the Eastern Treatment Plant and the Western Treatment Plant, although recycled stormwater and other on-site water recycling systems may also qualify as recycled water. These two treatment plants can be viewed as the equivalent of two new dams which are able to provide large amounts of 'fit for purpose' recycled water to commercial, residential, agricultural and recreational water users irrespective of the season.

Another potential source of recycled water is on-site water recycling, which involves extracting and treating sewage along existing pipelines. The sewage is treated on location (away from an existing treatment plant) using a localised treatment plant. This solution provides another option for recycling, which can reduce the requirement for new pipelines and therefore increase the viability of some recycling proposals.

Stormwater recycling offers another on-site recycling option, with treated recycled rainwater used for non-potable domestic applications.

9. What happens to waste water at present?

The vast majority of Melbourne's waste water is treated at Melbourne Water's Eastern and Western Treatment Plants and discharged into Port Phillip Bay and Bass Strait.

Through the increased use of recycled water, we will be able to reduce the volume of water discharged and use it in applications beneficial to the environment and the community.

10. Is recycled water safe?

Yes. Recycled water undergoes high standards of water treatment to ensure it is fit for its intended purpose. There are standards that apply to its use.

11. Are there guidelines for recycled water use?

Yes. Recycled water can be safely used for a variety of purposes appropriate to the level of treatment it has undergone, in accordance with EPA Victoria's Guidelines for Environmental Management: Use of Reclaimed Water.

These standards are in line with interstate and international practice and permit a wide range of applications.

Individual water recycling projects each require an Environmental Improvement Plan which complies with the requirements of EPA Victoria.

12. Who is responsible for recycled water?

Recycled water forms part of the Victorian Government's broader water resource management responsibility which is managed by the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Melbourne Water, which is owned by the Victorian Government, has been given the responsibility for the introduction of recycled water as part of its role in managing Melbourne's water supply catchments, removing and treating most of Melbourne's sewage and managing waterways and major drainage systems.

13. How is recycled water defined?

Recycled water is defined as water that has been treated to a 'fit for purpose' standard for a specific application. The following water classes can all be used to replace potable water, and if used in an EPA-approved fit-for-purpose application, can be classified as recycled water:
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Would I drink it? Most probably. Chances are I might have already consumed it since last year - Singapore has been utilising that system since end of 02/early 03 I think (called NEWater).

The water may not be of the cleanest origin, but given the proper treatment - it is a better idea in the long run - being self-sufficient in producing water that is readily usable (for other purposes as well) instead of constantly hoping for a big rainfall.
 
KemicalBurn said:
^
Dude, you sound like a reporter off Today Tonight or ACA.

Of course the water coming from our taps is going to have chemicals in it. This, however, doesnt not suggest that we are drinking sewerage, treated or otherwise.


What it does suggest is that our water is stored in unhygeinic places (like "dams") and it is sent to us via unhygeinic methods (like "pipes"). The state government has the responibilty of making sure this water is safe for us to drink. Chemicals are used to make sure this is so.

Also, melbourne has its water 'flourodated' which would contribute to the "greyness" you mentioned.

You find some evidence. Then we'll talk :)
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Bwahahaha that's not the first time I've been told I sound like a journalist or a reporter. ;)

About the state government, they have actually sold off our utilities, water is one of them so they don't have as much of a say as they did before in regards to drinking water.

Fluoride I don't mind in my water, it's Aluminium I don't like, because of the studies that have been shown to prove that in some ways it can contribute to diseases such as Alzheimers and Cancer.

Also Melbourne water aren't going to tell their customers (just yet) that they're drinking treated water. They want their customers to think that their water is perfect, and will do whatever they can legally to let people think that.

I don't normally make such outregeous claims about these sorts of things, but we had a doctor come over the other night to test our water. We also thought that his claims were rather outrageous to say the least, but he showed us a fair bit of information such as newspaper articles and whatnot) to make us think again.
 
^ as far as I can tell (from a quick google) pekkie, is that all the sewage water currently being recycled in Melbourne and the state of Victoria is for large irrigation systems and large agriculture users only. it's not for human drinking water.


the articles I quoted above mentions this.
 
Sorry, i couldn't resist...

PARANOID.JPG
 
My mate lives in Newington (the old olympic village) and there are numerous taps labelled as recycled water, not for drinking etc etc which are intended for watering gardens and washing cars and such.
 
As long as any type of reycled, or desalinated water was treated properly it wouldn't bother me any which way. When you look at it at a molecular level there's no difference anyways.

You think the water that comes from our dams is one hundred percent clean before it is treated?
 
um
the water we drink currently is recycled
by nature, but recycled nonetheless

I'd have no problem drinking recycled water, as long as the appropriate methods were taken to ensure its sterility and a reduced content of any toxic material
 
that proves why Bob Carr is mental, why the hell is he in Victoria drinking your water and doing publicity stunts?


he's the premier of NSW fuck sake :D
 
friskk said:
i cant drink recycled waste water.. yuck..
Call me shallow.. but i dont want to drink toilet water.
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It's not like they're going to hook up a pipe direct from your toilet to your kitchen tap ;)
 
As long as they make it taste like.... well like nothing, or at least nothing offensive then I don't reckon I would care all that much.

Besides, all you people that like drinking fresh water.... do you know what fish do in that stuff??? 8(
 
I've drank recycled water. Fuckin ordinary. Don't do it.
 
if everyone is so against it don't bother drinking water in the UK if ya on holidays, they use a rather large percentage of recycled water for their cities.
 
Pop Popavich said:
As long as they make it taste like.... well like nothing, or at least nothing offensive then I don't reckon I would care all that much.
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that's it!

why the hell don't we have a GREEN CORDIAL tap?! being restricted to plain old "hot" and "cold" SUCKS!
 
Well ... when I went backpacking in the UK/Europe a few years ago, the whole 6 weeks I was in London I bought bottled water every single day. I never drank water out of the tap. I didn't even like cleaning my teeth with it.

So I guess thats my answer.
 
pffft. Can't be half as toxic as the alcohol we all consume.

I'm all for desalination. I read some article about it in SMH, then got very drunk and tried to convince my taxi driver it was the way of the future. I wish Bob Carr would put more money into inventing an effective [and inexpensive] desalination process rather than on simply fixing the fucked up leaky Sydney pipes.
 
Did someone say desalination? In-land aquaculture my friends!!!
 
I have no problems whatsoever with drinking recycled sewage water, although at our place we drink our perspiration instead!!

Well, that and whatever other moisture is invisibly floating about.


With all this talk regarding water - or the lack of it - I'm rather surprised this effective way of producing pure water has been left out of discussions.

This is water from the air, often discarded as the condensation from dehumidifiers and air conditioning systems. We currently have a machine in the living room which is designed specifically to do just this. It produces up to 26L per day if humidity is high enough and it will produce some water if humidity is anything above 17%.

The company also produces a 5,000L and a 20,000L a day machine. They also apparently have a windmill powered version of the 5K machine.

The quality of the water is second to none, although in some ways it’s too pure for drinking, if this was to be your only source of water. An early ICP analysis showed almost every trace element to be unmeasurable. The version we have produces hot, warm and chilled water, has UV sterilization, reverse flow carbon and heptachlor filter and is fully automated.
 
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