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A WIDE range of industrial contaminants including cyanide, pesticides, grease and fertilisers can be included in waste that will be recycled as drinking water for the 2.6 million residents of southeast Queensland.

The Bligh Government insists the contaminants will not pose a health risk as the levels are low.

Industrial and hospital effluent dumped in the sewers of Brisbane and Ipswich will constitute 12 per cent of the wastewater to be recycled.

The first recycled water will be pumped to Wivenhoe Dam, Brisbane’s main storage facility, in February. The quantity will rise from 60 to 230 megalitres per day next year.

Brisbane City Council guidelines covering the disposal of so-called trade waste to the sewer stipulate maximum levels for a wide range of contaminants.

The guidelines are designed to “protect the environment, the health of sewerage workers, the operation and maintenance of the conveyance system and wastewater treatment facilities”.

The guidelines have not been amended to take account of the recycled water plan.

Six toxic organochlorine pestides, including DDT and dieldrin, are allowed in trade waste at very low levels — up to 0.1mg/L. Organochlorine pesticides have been banned because of human health concerns and remain in the environment for many years.

Higher levels of less toxic organophosphate pesticides including malathion and azinphos can be dumped, along with up to 50mg/L of formaldehyde and 30mg/L of petroleum hydrocarbons. The council guidelines say formaldehyde and petroleum hydrocarbons can “adversely affect the safety of operations and maintenance personnel”.

The guidelines list 13 allowable metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, cobalt and zinc.

Bromine, sulphide and cyanide, which “may produce toxic atmospheres in the sewer”, are allowed, as are ammonia, nitrogen, phosphorous, and grease and oil. The guidelines allow “gross solids” to be dumped if they are less than 20mm.

Treatment processes that may be required before dumping in the sewer include the neutralisation of acidic wastes and the chemical reduction of chromium.

Food preparation wastes must pass through an approved grease trap before reaching the sewer.

Polluted water from the motor trade may result from the degreasing of mechanical parts, the washing of workshop floors contaminated with hydrocarbons, and removing paint wastes from smash repair shops.

Queensland Water Commission chief executive John Bradley said trade waste controls prevented hazardous material from entering sewage networks.

“Councils issue approvals for trade waste after considering the relative risk of the waste to the sewage treatment system and the effluent water quality,” Mr Bradley said.

Referring to a mix-up at the Gold Coast’s Pimpama treatment plant that resulted in unsafe recycled water being put in drinking water, Mr Bradley said the Western Corridor Recycled Water Scheme was safe. “The system that will produce purified water will have real-time online monitoring that will shut down the plant immediately if regulated standards are not being met.”

Launching an advertising campaign for the introduction of fluoridated water, Premier Anna Bligh said the only thing that would stop the recycling plan would be overflowing dams.

“This is something that we can be proud of, not fearful of,” Ms Bligh said.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said recycled water should be used for drinking only as a last resort, echoing the sentiments of National Health and Medical Research Council water chief Don Bursill, which were reported in The Australian yesterday. “If something goes wrong, there’s a breakdown in the system; you’ve got nowhere to go,” Mr Springborg said.

AN authority on water infrastructure has claimed it is not possible to prevent potentially harmful organisms from entering southeast Queensland’s water supply when recycled sewage is added to it in February.

Australian National University emeritus professor Patrick Troy said it was scandalous that the region’s 2.6 million residents were not offered a vote in a referendum on recycled water.

In the first project of its kind in Australia, recycled water will soon account for up to 25 per cent of southeast Queensland’s drinking water.

The first recycled water will be pumped to the Wivenhoe Dam, Brisbane’s main water source, in February.

Under the $9 billion water grid being set up in southeast Queensland, the water storage systems of the Gold Coast, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast will be combined so that water can be shuffled between the three cities.

At present, water can only go one way, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, an arrangement that started when the Gold Coast’s main source, the Hinze Dam, ran dry four years ago.

Despite the fact the Hinze Dam, which generally receives more rain than those in the other areas, is almost 95 per cent full, Gold Coast residents could receive drinking water that contains recycled sewage when the Hinze Dam levels fall again.

Recycled sewage is already used to provide Singapore with extra drinking water.

Professor Troy said the safety of recycled water had not been proved in any long-term epidemiological studies.

“It will not be possible to remove all biologically active waste molecules from the system,” Professor Troy said.

“The probability is that something like 8 per cent of these impurities will get through, and that is assuming the system is working properly.”

Professor Troy said residents with allergies would be particularly at risk of infection. “What’s happening here is that the authorities are playing Russian roulette with the health of the population,” he said.

“It is a scandal that former premier Peter Beattie promised the people of southeast Queensland a say in a plebiscite and then backed away from that promise.

“The residents of Toowoomba rejected the notion of drinking recycled shit by a large margin in a 2006 referendum when they were given the opportunity.”

Professor Troy said the “hugely expensive” recycled water project was unnecessary and a waste of public money.

“This is all being driven by a technological obsession that big engineering projects offer the only solutions to water shortages,” he said.

“If everyone in Brisbane had rainwater tanks and grey water was recycled for the garden, there would be plenty of water.”

State Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg signalled that the Liberal National Party would scrap the project if it won next year’s election.

“I’ve always said that the useof recycled water should be alast resort,” Mr Springborg said yesterday. “Recycled water should only go to industrial uses.”

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said her Government would not back away for its support for the project.

Ms Bligh said recycling was a necessary part of the solution to providing for the needs of the rapidly growing population of southeast Queensland.

“Queensland is an economic powerhouse that will continue to expand,” Ms Bligh said.

“To keep up with the population growth we need to use desalination plants, we need recycled water and we need to build the proposed dams.”

Paul Greenfield, who heads an expert committee advising the Government on the safety of recycled water, rejected suggestions it was unsafe.

Professor Greenfield, vice-chancellor at the University of Queensland, said the seven-stage filtering process ensured harmful microbes were not drunk by the public. Advanced oxidation would be a further barrier to contamination.

“There is no higher risk than what is currently faced with the existing supply,” he said.

FULL STORY: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24568495-5006786,00.html