[Greens-Media] Water recycling the way of the future - Greens

[Twomey, Chris (Sen R. Siewert)]

Water recycling the way of the future - Greens

The government rejected a call today by the Greens to fund a full-scale
demonstration water recycling plant producing high quality water.

"Our decisions about water security need to be based on science, not
misinformation and fear-mongering, we need a full scale plant to
demonstrate the science of water recycling," said Senator Siewert. 

"We cannot afford to play politics with our water security. Water
security is a national crisis," she said.

"The government needs to show leadership on this issue."

Under the National Water Initiative the government has $170 million of
discretionary funds which it can allocate at any time. Surely some of
this funding could be allocated to a recycling plant?

"The community needs to be able to see how the process of water
recycling and purification works in a practical, hands-on way," she
said. 

"The best way to do this is to build a functioning plant."

"They need to be given the time to weigh up all the options so they can
make rational decisions about their future water security."

"Australians want to know that their water supplies are safe, secure and
sustainable." 

The Greens are suggesting building a recycling plant in an area facing a
water crisis that would be capable of producing potable water at a scale
that would help them secure their water supplies. 

The plan would be to initially use the water for other purposes (e.g.
agricultural or industrial) for two to three years while the community
assessed the technology, and then only connect it to domestic water
supplies once the scheme had achieved widespread community support. 

Each year Australian cities consume more than 2200 billion litres of
water, of which 1300 billion litres is then dumped into rivers or the
sea. Most of this wastewater comes from showers, baths and washing
machines.


For information or comment contact:


Chris Twomey

Personal Advisor

Senator Rachel Siewert

Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia

WA office: 08 9228 3277 Canberra: 02 6277 3587

mobile: 0407 725 025

www.rachelsiewert.org.au