Recycled drinking water makes its debut on  the central coast

Central Coast residents will have the chance to taste 100% recycled water this Friday and Saturday as part of an information campaign to help create a better understanding about recycled water and the role it can play in helping create a sustainable water supply in the region.

The 'NEWater' comes from one of the world's most advanced water recycling plants in Singapore where currently around 1% of the country's total water supply is supplemented with recycled water.

According to Gosford City Council's Manager, Operations, Water & Sewer, Steve Martin, the aim of the information campaign is to explain how water recycling technology works and to start answering the many questions that people have about the use of recycled water for both drinking and non-drinking purposes.

'In Australia we currently only use recycled water for non-drinking purposes such as irrigation and flushing of toilets,' he said.' And that's exactly what we use it for on the Central Coast as well as for washing down Council vehicles at our Depots and internally at our sewage treatment works.

'The idea of the taste testing is to give people the chance to see what recycled water looks like, taste it and then ask any questions they will have about how we're using recycled water currently, how can we increase its use to save even more town water and whether recycled water for drinking purposes is a viable option for the Central Coast in the future.

'Around the world, as water becomes an increasingly precious and limited resource, more and more countries are mixing recycled water with their raw water supplies. This mixed water is then treated in the normal way and used for both drinking and non-drinking purposes.

'For example, in California, Arizona and North Virginia they've been using recycled water to replenish underground aquifers and surface reservoirs for more than 20 years. The attraction of this approach is that there is no need to spend billions of dollars on building a dual distribution system.

'Here in Australia, the largest residential recycling scheme is at Rouse Hill in Sydney where more than 1.7 billion litres of water a year is used to flush toilets, water gardens and for other outdoor tasks. The water is supplied to the houses via a separate distribution pipe to the normal town water supply.''

Gosford City Council is committed to pursuing water recycling as a key component of managing the region's water resources. By next year, the Council aims to have a full-scale demonstration water recycling plant up and running in the Gosford CBD subject to the normal planning and regulatory processes.

The demonstration plant will enable the Council to trial the latest water recycling techniques and give the community the opportunity to see how the technology works first hand.

'It will produce six star quality water which is higher than the standard of our current drinking water. We'll be providing this water to users in the CBD for non-drinking water purposes but will also look at bottling the water so people can taste it for themselves as part of our community information campaign,' said Steve Martin.

The Gosford CBD project will remain in place for two years as part of an intensive community education and information campaign to provide people with the facts so they can make an informed not an emotional decision about recycled drinking water.

'Currently we believe there is strong support out there in the community for the use of recycled water for both drinking and non-drinking purposes but we are just at the start of a journey to put recycled water on the agenda and provide people with the chance to ask their questions and raise their concerns,' said Steve Martin.

'Currently we have applications in to both the State and Federal Government seeking financial support for our two major water recycling projects but as yet there's been no indication of whether this will be forthcoming.'

ENDS

Media Enquires: Janet Saunders - 0438 191 328

Background Information on NEWater 

·         The Singapore Water Reclamation Study (NEWater Study) was initiated in 1998 as a joint initiative between the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR)

·         The primary objective of the joint initiative was to determine the suitability of using NEWater as a source of raw water to supplement Singapore's water supply

·         NEWater is treated used water that has undergone stringent purification and treatment process using advanced dual-membrane (microfiltration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies

·         NEWater could be mixed and blended with reservoir water and then undergo conventional water treatment to produce drinking water (a procedure known as Planned Indirect Potable Use or Planned IPU)

·         Around 3 million gallons a day of NEWater, about 1% of the total volume of water consumed daily, is blended with raw water in Singapore's reservoirs. The amount will be increased progressively to reach about 2.5% of the total volume of water consumed daily by 2011

·         NEWater is safe for human consumption. Test results from the 2-year comprehensive physical, chemical and microbiological study showed that the quality of NEWater consistently exceeds the requirements stipulated in the USEPA and WHO guidelines.

·         Planned IPU as a source of water supply is not new. It has been practised in several parts of the United States for more than 20 years

·         At Water Factory 21, Orange County Water District, Southern California, high quality water reclaimed from treated used water has been injected into ground water since 1976.

·         Similarly, at Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority (UOSA), North Virginia, high quality reclaimed water is discharged into Occuquan Reservoir since 1978. Occoquan Reservoir is a source of water for more than a million people living in the vicinity of Washington DC.

·         Water reclamation is a growing trend in the US and around the world