QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has confirmed residents in the state’s south-east will be drinking purified recycled water from March 2009.
The water will be recycled from sewage treatment plants sanitised to make it suitable for human consumption.
Bligh says while there are already several schemes in place to make use of recycled water for industrial purposes, this will be the first time it will be used to supplement a population’s drinking water in Australia.
The Premier attended an event which saw the placement of the last pipe in a 208km water grid which links the region’s water recycling plants to the local power stations, advanced water treatment plants and dams.
She says the grid is part of the Western Corridor Re-Cycled Water Project (WCRWP), the largest water recycling project in the Southern Hemisphere and cost around nine billion dollars to set up.
She claims the project will ultimately have the capacity to deliver 232ML into the system every day, equal to about have of the region’s water supply. This, the Premier says, will make Queenslanders the most efficient users of water in the country. It will also go some way to ‘drought-proofing’ the region.
Bligh says the first load of recycled water is scheduled for delivery into the Wivenhoe Dam on around February or March 2009, after the system is fully tested.
In addition to this, the Premier also called on the Federal Government to approve the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam to avoid a potential water shortage in the next ten to 15 years.
Bligh believes the dam, located in the Sunshine Coast hinterland north of Brisbane, is critical to future water supplies in the region.
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