Drinkable Recycled Sewerage Water? Personally, no way... but what are your thoughts? - (News: Courier Mai

[arnz 0]

Esp with drugs & so forth.. (the prescribed ones) ordered by the docs and so forth. It seems that things like science does effect things that happen in the world today, esp with the earlier proposal of flouridated water in some areas (which since has been rejected).

[salamangkero 0]

I just read on the newspaper, about a month or two ago, about something I think they called LifeStraw. Basically, it's a tall plastic cylinder you can conveniently wear around your neck. It filters a lot of microbes and nasty stuff from dirty water, rendering it, more or less, potable. Costing a dollar or three, this was to be used so African people can drink from the river without much worry. I hear that water sucked from this "straw" has an iodine aftertaste and that there are certain chemicals it cannot take out of the water.Still, if these people, who have never seen scientists in their life, could trust their life to a handful of foreigners telling them to suck water through a plastic cylinder, why can't we, citizens of better-off countries trust our own chemists and engineers to know what's good for us? These people aren't even foreigners, they're one of us, our neighbor, friend, employer or possibly a relative of ours. Science ain't all that bad; just because we made the mistake of spraying CFC's on our atmosphere and belched carbon dioxide into the skies doesn't mean all pills from the local pharmacist are poisonous or carcinogens.In the same way, I don't see you guys having problems with your own tap water. Even my paranoid chemistry teacher contented herself with boiling/freezing water depending on her mood, I guess. (Traditionally, boiling water is the safer method but it does consume fuel. Freezing water, on the other hand, kills some microbes but there are others that survive temperatures well below freezing)My parents, on the other hand, buy water filters, just like almost everyone in the country (that is, for those who could afford it)

[delivi 0]

A few months before I saw in progrm in discovery channel, that somewhere in America a research lab has developed a technology and the equipments for making our urine into drinkable water. The equipment is small and be carried with us. So if you are planning for a long trip around the world, you better get this, you'll neve need to buy bottles of water

[Thorned Rose 0]

The only problem with drinking recycled water stems from a psychological one i.e. people don't like the idea of drinking water that comes from sewage.The fact of the matter is, water that you use in your household goes either into a sewage system which is treated somewhat and then dumped into the nearest body of water (rivers, lakes, the ocean) and stormwater (like what runs off the road as well as goes down your bathroom and kitchen drains) gets dumped untreated into the nearest water. So you are already drinking what is essentially recycled sewage and drain water. Then you have to factor in things like runoff from farms, acid rain, algal blooms that proliferate because of biological pollution or how about the fact that whenever you take a nice dip in the sea, part of the colour that water has is faecal matter and biological decay and also the fact that sewage and runoff ends up in the sea, often right beside beaches.My advice would be, get over it. Astronauts do it all the time. Many people around the world are drinking recycled water and the fact of the matter is EVERYONE is drinking recycled water to some degree.As for bottled water. Unless you drink distilled water, MOST bottled water is collected from the source (usually a spring) and put straight into bottles. There is no treatment involved. Read the back of the bottle - it will often say "bottled at the source". Tap water is more treated than most bottled water lol. And of course that isn't even taking into account the HUGE impact that the bottles are having on the environment. How's that for your conscience?!I would rather drink recycled water any day knowing that it is better for the environment than buying bottled water which is 1. taking water out of the ecosystem and therefore disrupting it, 2. untreated anyway and 3. leaves behind plastic which pollutes then environment. It's not a hard choice.

[jlhaslip 4]

Here is an article about recycled water that is an interesting read.

Looks like the future is here already.

[detportal 0]

I agree with Thorned Rose. If I didn't know the water I was drinking came from the sewer, I wouldn't mind, as long as I can't taste any difference.

In response to arnz, Toowoomba is in Queensland, Australia and their Dams are below 20% capacity. At the moment they have Level 5 Water Restrictions, 100% prohibiting the watering of plants using water direct from the tap.

Meanwhile, I'm in a different state - New South Wales, and our dams are at around 30% capacity. Our Government is thinking of building a desalination plant to desalinate the water from the sea for drinking purposes. I reckon this would probably be slightly better than sewer water. At least it sounds better.

I was also thinking, if you are repulsed by sewer water, why don't you install water filters? The latest reverse osmosis models are incredibly good.

For those who haven't heard of reverse osmosis:

Reverse osmosis is the process of pushing a solution through a filter that traps the solute on one side and allows the pure solvent to be obtained from the other side. More formally, it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process, which is the natural movement of solvent from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration when no external pressure is applied. The membrane here is semipermeable, meaning it allows the passage of solvent but not of solute.

They'll set you back at ooohh....US$250, or approximately AU$400

Not a bad price to pay if your other option is to dehydrate yourself through a combination of vomiting and unwillingness to drink.

A recycled sewerage plant is being proposed about 20kms from where I live. But somehow I doubt they'll give THAT to us as drinking water. They never mentioned it...

[velma 6]

Hi,I personally think that it is ok for us to drink recycled water as we save a lot of fresh pure water and the the products remaing from the purification can too be recycled.I thought it is ok for we are either way drinking polluted water as most of the water bodies are polluted due to chemicals and acid rains and so on.So i dont see the big deal in drinking it and if a particular batch of recycled water is unsafe then you can always find another safer use for it.Nowadays we cannot be picky about things as the resources are fast depleting due to pollution,wastage and over population.So in short I think that it is a better option to recycle all the resources we have to save something for the future ahead.Cheers,This was just an opinion.

[iGuest 3]

From The Foundation of Recycled Water (FRW) I insisted on toowoomba drinking recycled water, and luckily they said no. as after doing more tests after the referendum it was found that a high rate of potassium was found. meaning colossal death could of been prompt. a death toll of nearly all of toowoomba could of been exterminated. so if you are against toowoomba saying no, think again.

[iGuest 3]

Drinkable Recycled Sewerage Water? - Personally, no way... but what are your thoughts? - (News: Courier Mai

Drinkable Recycled Sewerage Water?

 

Hi,

I'm doing a project on recycled water so if anyone has some tips/info please let me know!

 

Thanks

 

-reply by alec

[Janissary 0]

The only problem with drinking recycled water stems from a psychological one...

You know this, right? The thingy where babies and old people poops. Can you drink water from it? Put your food in it? It hasnt used yet.

 

Technology is here. So if you trust your town council that they wont take bribes to look over facility's problems, go for it. But then again... Even dam water, which you may call clean, goes treament before pumpimg to system. They can too take bribes, OMG!!!

 

By the way, Im studying environment engineering.

[iGuest 3]

Recycled water?

Drinkable Recycled Sewerage Water?

 

IT IS DANGEROUS AND DISGUSTING! WHO CARES IF IT IS GOING TO BE "POOIFIED". I AM WORRIED ABOUT THE CHEMICALS PLACED IN THE WATER! THAT IS THE REAL DANGER! LEAVE IT TO THE BIG COMPANIES TO USE THE RECYCLED WATER, INSTEAD OF OUR FRESH WATER! THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE IF THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS US TO DRINK POOEY WATER! YUK!

 

-reply by Sally

[salamangkero 0]

You know this, right? The thingy where babies and old people poops. Can you drink water from it? Put your food in it? It hasnt used yet.

 

Technology is here. So if you trust your town council that they wont take bribes to look over facility's problems, go for it. But then again... Even dam water, which you may call clean, goes treament before pumpimg to system. They can too take bribes, OMG!!!

 

By the way, Im studying environment engineering.

I'm perfectly aware that the topic was about drinkable recycled wastewater, not "drinking from a potty" Really, it is amazing how people could so easily make horrifyingly inaccurate analogies. As said countless times before, water always undergoes treatment whether it's "raw" water from nature or sewage fluids.

 

Personally, I'd like to stick to the issue and consider the possibility of recycling sewage water. If we always considered politics and corruption, or, worse, assumed such circumstances, we'll never get anywhere and we probably won't be able to send people to space.

 

Recycled water?

 

Drinkable Recycled Sewerage Water?

IT IS DANGEROUS AND DISGUSTING! WHO CARES IF IT IS GOING TO BE "POOIFIED". I AM WORRIED ABOUT THE CHEMICALS PLACED IN THE WATER! THAT IS THE REAL DANGER! LEAVE IT TO THE BIG COMPANIES TO USE THE RECYCLED WATER, INSTEAD OF OUR FRESH WATER! THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE JOKE IF THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS US TO DRINK POOEY WATER! YUK!

 

-reply by Sally

I am sure that our friend, "Sally" would not be too elated to know that the water she is drinking has, at the very least, trace amounts of chlorine. Some water distribution facilities also mix fluorine to the water, which is, quite contrary to Ms. Sally's concerns, perfectly safe and harmless.

 

Y'know what, I think I'm tired of repeating myself so why don't we just go ahead and assume that, the moment we turn our faucets, all the filth and grime of the heathen world will come pouring out? I mean, what part of water treatment is unclear to the people of this planet?

[krazygoddess 0]

Ewwwwwwww, I couldnt do it, Im not much of a water drinker anyway, But if the water was recylced sewar water I would drink even less then what i drink now. Bottled water what be what my household would be having. And god only knows where that really comes from.

[Janissary 0]

salamangkero, couldnt you see that was a example to show people "it's all psychological" That your (not personly you) reasonings not to drink recyleced water is baseless as not drinking from potty.

[iGuest 3]

Treatment Chemicals and PharmaceuticalsDrinkable Recycled Sewerage Water?

I have never had a problem as such with the idea of drinking recycled water. The idea of it going through someone else's body isn't that big a deal either.

 What I have a problem with is the chemicals they use. In addition the sheer amount of pharmaceuticals taht are used and the amounts that are excreted through urine and faeces. I mean is it that good that it'll get rid of all of it? It appears not in the 'States; I read a NewScientist article about it not 6 months ago. They were finding amounts of all sorts of medications (and while that was from water in rivers through upstream cities, I'm sure it was filtered before it wen't to the tap where the samples were collected hence it did make it through the filtration)...

Just my two cents worth. I'm against it for those reasons.

I'm also aware the moment it is passed it'll be fait accompli. The govt will only act after an incident /txtmngr/images/smileys/smiley2.gif

-reply by Lachlan Wells