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THE Government’s water adviser has reignited speculation water recycling could be dumped, after suggesting it could be postponed to save money.

Queensland Water Commission chief executive John Bradley yesterday offered the new exit strategy only a day after Premier Anna Bligh shifted her position and revealed she would rely on advice from the independent body.

Mr Bradley said yesterday that plans to introduce purified recycled and desalinated water were vital to securing southeast Queensland’s water future.

But he said the water grid manager had a responsibility to ensure security first and then optimise costs.

He said the plans could be delayed if “there was an opportunity to create some cost savings”.

“It would only be if there was a cost-saving opportunity there where we could see an opportunity to actually reduce the output for desalination or purified recycled water.”

Normal treated dam water costs about $100 a megalitre, purified recycled water costs about $500 a megalitre and desalinated water $650 a megalitre.

The Government has been under mounting pressure over the plans after initially saying recycled water would be introduced if dam levels fell below 40 per cent.

This week’s heavy rains have taken the storage levels of the region’s three dams to almost 45 per cent.

Ms Bligh yesterday conceded that treating sewage water was expensive but insisted she still saw no reason to change her mind on the issue.

“It is an expensive form of water,” Ms Bligh said.

“There’s no doubt about that and you’d make some decision about at what point you didn’t really need, on a cost basis, to do that.”

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said the shift from the Premier was Labor’s fourth different position on the issue.

“Queenslanders will view an election eve backflip on drinking recycled water with suspicion, though, especially after Labor went to the last state election promising residents a say only to change their mind a few months later,” Mr Springborg said.

“What this whole episode reminds us is that Labor says one thing on the eve of an election and does the opposite after.”

By: Paul Weston

AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into how recycled water, not fit for drinking, became supplied to taps, showers and water appliances at the Gold Coast’s Pimpama treatment plant.
The Sunday Mail has obtained a “high importance” email from Gold Coast Water director Richard Went sent to staff about the health scare.

Council sources late yesterday said Gold Coast Water staff were visiting their doctors after learning they had been drinking the water since September.
“We know of one who is sick. They’re going to their doctors. This is so wrong, we’re going to be drinking this stuff,” the source said.

“If they can get this small thing mucked up, what are they going to do to the rest of us when recycled water is introduced?”

Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke yesterday said he could understand the concerns, but extra checks would be made once recycled water was introduced into southeast Queensland’s $9 billion water grid.
Cr Clarke said the cause of the Pimpama incident was being determined, but it appeared to have occurred after an apprentice mixed up waste-water lines directed into the plant.

About 200 employees visiting the facility and 40 staffers working in the control room may have drunk the water not fit for human consumption.
“We’re contacting all the staff. Three had some queasiness and they still went to work and thought nothing of it,” Cr Clarke said.

“Initial investigations indicated the recycled water was supplied into the office building from early September until it was discovered and subsequently disconnected today,” Mr Went said in an email to staff on Friday.
He said Gold Coast Water had acted quickly to switch off the faulty supply and Queensland Health was informed.