With Queensland currently facing dire water shortages a University of Queensland water management expert is calling for the State Government to consider a bulk water recycling strategy.
Director of UQ`s Advanced Wastewater Management Centre (AWMC) Professor Jürg Keller said water from recycling plants was of a higher quality than that produced using current methods.
During bulk recycling, wastewater is sent to a treatment plant but instead of discharging back into the river it is treated further to reach a quality where it can be re-used and recycled back into the drinking water supply at a dam.
New treatment technologies extract all harmful material to the point where not only is it no longer present in the water, the water is cleaner than much of the water we get from our dams and rivers, according to Professor Keller.
“It`s purer water than current tap water and would be much cheaper than sea water desalination,” Professor Keller said.
He said the main barrier to bulk water recycling was misinformation among the community.
“There is a lot of emotional debate going on about this subject but the proposal of using desalination is simply replacing a water-shortage problem with an energy-shortage problem,” Professor Keller said.
“Desalination sucks huge amounts of energy - burning more coal isn`t sustainable or positive.”
“I can`t understand why bulk recycling hasn`t been introduced other than the problem of public perception - some people just can`t accept it.
“But if it is done with good public information and participation I believe it will be broadly accepted as it has been for example in Singapore. They are already recycling some of their treated effluent back to the water supply dam.”
The second stage of treatment in bulk recycling removes any remaining organics so the water can be pumped directly into a dam such as North Pine, according to Professor Keller.
He said studies had shown that bulk recycling was safe and cost-effective.
“The treatment methods used mean that the water would not have anything going through it that would be of concern to human health,” Professor Keller said.
“The water would be comparable, if not better quality than current tap water.”
The AWMC is currently researching ways to improve the wastewater treatment process.
Professor Keller has been working on biological nutrient removal research and development for more than 14 years and has developed several novel process options.
He is currently working on a $355,000 Australian Research Council funded project with Dr Bill Clarke from UQ`s School of Engineering, developing an optimally integrated treatment process for food waste and wastewater to maximise sustainability in a decentralised treatment plant.
Media: For more information, contact Professor Jürg Keller (telephone 07 3365 4727 or 0412 123 913) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email c.saxby@uq.edu.au).
