Posted on 07/25/2006 12:11:08 AM PDT by beyond the sea
Residents of a drought-stricken Australian town will vote this week on whether they're prepared to drink water recycled from sewage -- the first such scheme in the country and one of only a handful in the world.
The controversial proposal has divided the town of Toowoomba in the state of Queensland, which has faced water restrictions for a decade.
Local Mayor Dianne Thorley, who is leading the "Yes" campaign, said that without drought-breaking rains the town's dams could dry up within two years.
She insisted the 73 million dollar (US 55 million dollar) plan to pump purified wastewater back into the main reservoir for drinking was safe.
"Somewhere, sometime we have got to stand up and change the way we are doing things," she told AFP as the town prepared for the July 29 referendum.
"Otherwise our great grandchildren are going to be living in something like the Sahara desert."
A vocal "No" campaign opposes the proposal, and says there are unforeseeable health risks for the town's 100,000 residents.
"The scientists say it should be safe," said local councillor Keith Beer, one of three members of the nine-strong council that opposes the plan. "That is not good enough for me, for my kids and my grandkids."
Australia is in the midst of the third-worst drought in the country's history. The so-called Big Dry is affecting the eastern states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, as well as South Australia and the southern island of Tasmania.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Should be safe .........
I did not know that.
I'd say so.
I thought treated sewage water,although "safe", still had a certain "smell."
That is disgusting.
Desalinization plants or something.
Technically, practically all water is recycled, but still.....
That sure sounds like a better idea to me ......... but I'm far from an expert on that.
Apparently the mayor of London--who's a lunatic in many areas--flushes his toilet rarely to conserve water. His argument is that urine isn't very unsanitary (and it isn't; it's somewhat poisonous which is why it is excreted, but it is very socially disgusting).
It does have a little wang to it.
Most of the interior of Australia is desert, the Outback. Also, Australia is the smallest continent, and so while other continents have huge deserts (the African Sahara, the Asian Arabian and Gobi deserts, the North American lands to the south and west of the Rockies, etc.), proportionally Australia has a lot. Still, their continent has one country. Even if North America is considered the United States and Canada only--which it is not--those are still two countries.
This water is so good (and real cold), I feel like selling it.
;-)
What? No barf alert?
Waste (Not), Want Not
..... good point. I guess I pissed away that opportunity.
;-)
"For almost the entire course of the 20th century, unknown to the public, doctors and medical researchers have been proving in both laboratory and clinical testing that our own urine is an enormous source of vital nutrients, vitamins, hormones, enzymes and critical antibodies that cannot be duplicated or derived from any other source. They use urine for healing cancer, heart disease, allergies, auto-immune diseases, diabetes, asthma, infertility, infections, wounds and on and on -- yet we're taught that urine is a toxic waste product. This discrepancy between the medical truth and the public information regarding urine is ludicrous and, as the news releases you've just read demonstrate, can mean the difference between life and death to you and to your loved ones." Martha Christy
And getting drier by the minute!
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