Attitudes on recycled water 'limit solution'

Attitudes to recycled water are hampering the community's response to Australia's water shortage, according to a University of Wollongong academic.Director of UOW's Institute for Innovation in Business and Social Research, Professor Sara Dolnicar, is working with the University of Melbourne's Dr Anna Hurlimann on a three-year project looking at water use.Funded by the Australian Research Council, Prof Dolnicar said she hoped to better understand public perception of recycled water and track how these perceptions might change."Australia is one of those countries that just doesn't have enough water," she said."There are two radical possible solutions to this problem. The first is, we need to pump more water into the system, through recycling or desalination. This reduces the risk of running out of water ... but the downside is it's produced at a high (economic and environmental) cost and can increase demand (as people then become less vigilant about restricting water use)."The other option is to conserve water. Then there is the risk that if there is a really critical situation, where is the water going to come from?"Prof Dolnicar said she believed the 2006 project in the Queensland town of Toowoomba, to draw 25 per cent of water from recycled effluent, had dramatically affected public opinion of recycled water.Although it is possible to recycle sewage water into safe, clean water for drinking and other household uses, the people of the town blocked the proposal through a referendum. "Toowoomba really harmed the future of recycled water in Australia," Prof Dolnicar said."Australia has chosen, and I would argue because of public perception, for desalination."Now Prof Dolnicar hopes more information might result in changes."People's knowledge base at the moment is low and wrong perceptions are fertile ground for scare campaigns," she said.