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| Water, water, everywhere; ...but will you drink it? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 14 2006, 11:26 PM (245 Views) | |
| Eral | Dec 14 2006, 11:26 PM Post #1 |
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Kopi Luwak
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http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/sta...5685829689.html Earlier this year, a town in Queensland rejected a plan for recycling effluent to be used as drinking water. Resoundingly. Later, I saw a docu/persuasive piece discussing the issue, where a couple were drinking water that had been recycled, and they were wholeheartedly in support. "It tastes wonderful", they said. Most of the papers took a jeering sort of attitude: ":rolleyes: Queenslanders", sort of thing, suggesting that people's concerns were just silly and ignorant. Our turn has come. Now Victorians have to show their rationality and superior logic, and contemplate the recycling of effluent. As the article shows, our pollies don't seem too keen to put us to the test. The statement "Melbourne isn't ready for it" is interesting, because nobody has asked more than about 20 people yet. I am comfortable with treated water (I note that I am avoiding the term effluent) for watering. Clothes washing? Dish washing?
Drinking?
:o I am forming an hypothesis that "poo is yucky" is deeply imbedded in the human psyche, and there will always be resistance. |
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| lara | Dec 15 2006, 05:53 AM Post #2 |
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Kopi Luwak
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Well, i gotta ask - when we take our water from a lake, use it, treat it and put it back into the lake, well, aren't I drinking recycled water already? |
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| Eral | Dec 16 2006, 02:09 AM Post #3 |
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Kopi Luwak
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Recycled after it's been sewage? |
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| lara | Dec 16 2006, 06:21 AM Post #4 |
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Kopi Luwak
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Well, the solids can't be transformed to water - they have to be removed and disposed of elsewhere. And people have survived by drinking their own pee. Doctors use urine to sterilyze things when there's nothing else. But yeah, they treat the sewage and then put the liquid back in the lake. So what's the dif? (While admitting I wouldn't drink my own untreated pee unless in dire straits. Not the band.) |
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| Eral | Dec 16 2006, 10:07 PM Post #5 |
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Kopi Luwak
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I don't live next to a lake.
My water comes from a reservoir that nobody has peed in. When I flush the toilet it goes down to Werribee, where it is treated and released back into the ocean. We rely on Nature to recycle it back into the reservoir. Catching it at Werribee and returning it to the reservoir because Nature has been too slack with the rain is a brand new idea for us. Never been done. Hence the attitude. |
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| Krazy | Dec 16 2006, 10:42 PM Post #6 |
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I haz powah!
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Heheh, the water in London we are assured has been recycled several times. Luverly.
:( Bottled water is really BIG here, especially down in London where the tap water tastes of chlorine. You get use to it if you have to start drinking it again but its certainly not as nice. |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| lara | Dec 21 2006, 06:47 AM Post #7 |
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Kopi Luwak
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Well, okay. Eral, I obviously don't have a problem with "recycled water," as you call it. I've been drinking it all my life. As for bottled water, it's mostly just someone else's tap water. Chlorine evaporates quickly, I'm told, so an open jug of water left on the counter overnight won't taste of it anymore. I have never understood drinking Perrier. Uh, isn't France the place where they coined "Don't drink the water"? |
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| Eral | Dec 29 2006, 12:05 AM Post #8 |
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Kopi Luwak
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The papers are starting a brand new campaign on how silly it is to be
over the idea of drinking effluent. Glamourous scientists have been trotted out, the pollie who said "Melbourne isn't ready" has wandered off, and everybody is talking recycle water and stop being so silly. (Clearly, lara has had a word. :lol: ) London water is an interesting thought: the city responsible for the first sewage system has got some heavy duty recycling issues. The water in our main river in undrinkable, unswimmable in the further towards the city you go, and kayakers are known to get sick after paddling in it. Bottled water is becoming popular, but it is generally accepted that only wankers don't find Melbourne tap water acceptable. Especially people who drink Perrier. :lol: lara: are you saying all those "Natural Spring water" labels on bottles are akin to those "95% Fat Free" labels and might not be in fact drawn straight from a mountain spring?? :o That actually hadn't occurred to me before. :blush: :lol: That does explain the really dodgy bottled water we had down at Phillip Island: it clearly hadn't been left out for long enough. (Note: Phillip Island water is not Melbourne water. When you shower, you come out smelling of chlorine.) |
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| underdog | Dec 29 2006, 12:44 AM Post #9 |
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Irish Breakfast
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here's the solution to your probelm, well maybe just mitigate it a bit. http://www.beyondlogic.org/southaustraliapower/#SolarThermal I have a bottle of bottled water here that is made from reverse osmosis, not just some spring wateror tap water, only cost $.13 each at Sams club. Water in MN AFAIK comes from the ground, various aquifers it gets filtered on it's way down through the ground, many places around here have wells, and drink it right from there. |
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| Eral | Dec 29 2006, 01:04 AM Post #10 |
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Kopi Luwak
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That does sound rather nifty. I especially like the way Austral Bricks are involved. However, I'm pretty sure that it is HORRIBLY expensive, and is going to take longer than another 5 years. Especially as Rio Tinto will make much more money from digging up uranium.
:( People access bore water in Western Australia: but because it is so mineral rich, it's undrinkable. You see copper red stains on houses and paths from it. |
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| underdog | Dec 29 2006, 01:39 AM Post #11 |
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Irish Breakfast
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not sure who Austral Bricks are/is. I got out of the link that the resistance to is the government, (SA Water), they seem to think,(back in 01 that is) the start up would only be $80M, doesn't sound that expensive. I see they are from the section below where I was referring to, the green segment. 'Parabolic Solar Collectors - A Solar Oasis?' |
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| lara | Dec 29 2006, 02:44 AM Post #12 |
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Kopi Luwak
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That's not the be-all and end-all. The worst water crisis we've had in Canada in recent history was in a town where they drank well water. Seven people died and almost the whole town got sick; many will need dialysis for the rest of their lives. One of the wells was near an area where cattle graze and deadly E. coli bacteria from their manure got into the well. I would never swim in Lake Ontario, but I do drink the water they pull from it after its been treated. I don't think anyone's ever gotten sick from it. I used to live in a town where they took their water from a mountain spring. One fall a deer died and was frozen into the pond near the source. Everyone got "Beaver Fever" (giardia) from it in spring. That was a few years before I moved there. When I moved there, they had the best water I have ever tasted and I don't expect to ever taste better - they had set up a plant that tapped the water before it reached the surface, and they had state-of-the-art equipment that constantly monitored the water quality for all types of problems. It was fabulous - it had flavour, but good flavour - natural minerals that made it yummy. Made great coffee, too. Part of the problem with bottled water is that the plastic bottles leach contaminants, and they also grow mold inside. |
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| underdog | Dec 29 2006, 03:06 AM Post #13 |
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Irish Breakfast
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Thats true, well water isn't always pure, we have few problems with it around here if you go deep enough to get away from the surface water, other wise you do get surface runoff, or Mississippi river water .Thats why your not supposed to refill the bottles, I usually refill the once or twice then get a new one, tap water doesn't last long in a bottle before it tastes bad, but the original water seems to last quite a while, never seen any mold in an upopened bottle, but then again never looked that close either, |
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| Krazy | Dec 29 2006, 10:29 AM Post #14 |
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I haz powah!
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Nah, there are two types of bottled water, and if it says "Natural Mineral Water" then it has to be from a natural spring/source. Otherwise it can be anything provided its safe to drink but usually is half the price and has some dubious appellation like Natural Spring Water to make people think its the real thing. London tap water is particularly nasty, while other parts of the country have very nice tasting tap water and I wouldn't get bottled water if I lived there. As for bottled water being someone else's tap water, true, but it ain't being piped up into our London taps :D |
| "Well, ‘course dis one’s betta! It’s lotz ‘eavier, and gots dem spikey bitz on de ends. " | |
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| lara | Dec 31 2006, 03:06 AM Post #15 |
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Kopi Luwak
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That'd be an English law, Krazy, about the labelling. No such law here. They just write where it's bottled - you get to guess whether it's just the tap water or what. That said, Canadian tap water tends to be of higher quality than in most places in the world. And you've got the right take on it - don't drink bottled because it's supposedly less likely to make you sick, unless you know your tap water is making people sick. Just drink it if you prefer it. Personally, I filter our water because it tastes better after it runs through a filter. |
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Dish washing?
Drinking?
:o



over the idea of drinking effluent. Glamourous scientists have been trotted out, the pollie who said "Melbourne isn't ready" has wandered off, and everybody is talking recycle water and stop being so silly. (Clearly, lara has had a word. :lol: )
(Note: Phillip Island water is not Melbourne water. When you shower, you come out smelling of chlorine.)
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7:00 PM Jul 11