As further comments are received they will be posted here.

Feel free to use these quotes in your stories. If you need assistance tracking down an expert, don’t hesitate to contact the AusSMC on 08 8207 7415 or email us.

Associate Professor Greg Leslie is from the UNESCO Centre for Membrane Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering at the University of New South Wales. He has worked worldwide on various water reuse projects.

“I’m not against desal but they have to ensure that the water that’s produced by desalination is adequately recycled.  Melbourne has one of the lowest recycling rates in Australia but it already has all the infrastructure needed to recycle water, so they need to make sure that recycled water is substituted for potable water in order to conserve their water use.

Desalination is not a panacea to the drought.  All water, be it storm water, ground water, waste water or surface water should be treated as a valuable resource that should be recycled to the fullest extent possible.”

Professor Don Bursill is a water quality expert associated with the Water Research Centre at the University of South Australia.

“There has been a lot of debate about different solutions to Australia’s water crisis and people often get trapped into thinking that they have to choose one solution over another. In reality all major cities need to have a water strategy that involves a variety of different approaches.

Melbourne is working hard to reuse its water, though they still have a long way to go. A desalination plant is a sensible approach as part of an overall strategy.”

Dr Clive Hamilton is Executive Director of the Australia Institute, an independent public policy research centre.

“We commissioned an analysis of the proposed desal plant in Sydney, just looking at the volume of greenhouse gases it would generate over its lifetime and it is huge. Water shortages are caused in large measure by climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions so our solution is to create more greenhouse gas emissions. It’s just astonishing really.”

Professor Nancy Millis is from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.

“The prolonged drought across Australia reminds us that dams are of short term value if populations increase and rainfall seriously declines. Alternate sources of supply exist where the starting material is either abundant (the ocean) or significant but delivered daily at a limited number of points (treated effluent). The technologies to convert these sources of water to water ‘fit for purpose’ are now well established and have been safely used for years in a number of countries. In Australia, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed a Risk Management Framework and set health and safety standards for recycled water. These publications provide water managers with guidance as to potential risks that may arise at each stage in the process of raising water for recycling to the quality and safety appropriate for its end use. The risk framework indicates the points to be monitored, the parameters to be measured, the standards to be met and the response required of personnel should the standards not be reached.

Given these management strategies, recycled and desalinated water can be used in potable supplies, or used in industry, agriculture and on playing fields, thus sparing potable supplies.”