00:00For some, the idea of turning what goes down when you flush into what comes out of your
00:07taps is hard to swallow.
00:09No, no, no, no thank you, I don't, no, it's disgusting.
00:13Don't think about it.
00:14Look at the amount of food that we eat in restaurants, have you seen anything prepared?
00:17Really wouldn't bother me at all, because I believe that the science and the treatment
00:20would be sufficient that it would be clean.
00:23Purified, recycled waste water is on the table as an option for bolstering Canberra's drinking
00:28water reserves.
00:30That involves a multi-step process that is used to treat and purify the water before
00:35it meets stringent standards for drinking water supply.
00:39Other options being considered for Canberra include using recycled water for non-drinking
00:43purposes like watering sports grounds, expanding the capacity of the region's dams and additional
00:49pumping from rivers to meet the demand of a growing population.
00:53What our modelling tells us is that we need to introduce our next water source to the
00:58system somewhere around 2035 to 2040.
01:02There's an environmental imperative too, with researchers finding the Murrumbidgee River's
01:07median average flow to southwest New South Wales reduced by 55% in the three decades
01:13from 1988, in small part due to Canberra drawing drinking water.
01:19I think too often people think rivers are like a magic pudding, you just go back and
01:23get more water from them.
01:24Despite the damage, he says there is hope.
01:27It's never too late and I think Murrumbidgee's still got a fair bit of water going down it.
01:32We've got to think of better ways of managing it.
01:33Even though we had a smaller population 40 years ago, we were actually drawing more than
01:38we are now.
01:39So the other side of water security is obviously demand management and we continue to encourage
01:45Canberrans to use water wisely.
01:48Icon Water thinks they'll need to make a decision about a new water source by 2027.
01:54Harry Frost, ABC News, Canberra.
Comments