So SCEC has finally woken up to the fact that the Council lives in that place that Barnaby Joyce seems to mention in every second sentence. Cloud Cuckoo Land. It is not really news.

"Ms Nolan said the decision (by council) not to include use of purified recycled (sewerage) was very disappointing and out of step with latest technology and reality."

Ms Nolan needs to get her facts and her logic straight.

The council did not reject using recycled SEWERAGE because of anything to do with the "latest technology" or "reality".

They rejected it because they rightly and responsibly, " felt residents first had to be consulted."

If people were not openly consulted about drinking recycled SEWERAGE and the construction of such a facility - what then? Where would the council have left themselves them? I'll tell you where - in a very stupid and vulnerable position.

They, sensibly and appropriately, both covered their own arses and allowed for public consultation.

The fact that treated effluent (thank you for using the correct term) has been flowing into Baroon Pocket dam since it was built is another issue entirely. Focus on it and deal with it is you must - since you (Ms Nolan) have now decided for some reason that it's an issue.

I used to have respect for the SCEC - but they only ever seem to pop up when it suits them. Get off your butts and save some koalas!

Well done to the council ! It was the only decision to make. Ask !

O Reilly, you seem to have forgotten that it is the LNP and particularly our own Fiona Simpson, (you know the PRO-DESAL MP who is PRO DESAL on Bribie Is but not in her electorate) who ran a shrill and vicious campaign against recycled water. When the council does consult you can be sure that Barnaby, Fiona and the Chicken Little's of the LNP will ensure the debate is shouted down. Cloud Cuckoo indeed!

I also note that the link to climateproof.com.au has been disabled on Fiona's website. Surely Fiona does not want to deprive us of the glories of desalination contained therein. mmmmm... maybe she does

Correct me if I am wrong Zorro, however the council decision taken last week was not a decision on putting recycled water in drinking water, was it not a decision on strategies for a regional water recycling plan?
As recycled water already goes into the catchment areas I fail to understand why we do not look at method and technologies to recycle water, we recycle everything else? There is still a process to gain approval to actually put it in drinking water but to not even consider it as part of the overall plan is ludicrous

Zorro

So what you are saying is Council need to ask the people if they want to include the use treated effluent in water planning, even though it is being used already?

Maybe you should work for some level of Government (do you already?) with logic like that. Whats the use of consulting with the public after the event has occured. We will be told it is too expensive to change the exisitng system and that will be the end of it.

I can remember the hoo-hah about removing the water treatment plant at Ewan Maddock Dam because effluent from the Landsborough Treatment plant was going into the dam and the Councilors at that time thought that it should not happen. Fair enough but after the cost of removing the plant, a somewhat huge (compared to the size of the old one and the size of the dam) treatment plant has now been built on the Dam. This plant is connected to the coast water grid via the pipeline from Baroon Pocket to Caloundra.
One does wonder what will happen after a week or two when the huge plant sucks all the water out of the dam?

To add the all this strange action, it was subsequently decided that the sewerage from the Landsborough plant be piped to the coast for treatment and disposal via the Kawana plant. The pipeline used was the one that originally sent water to the coast from the Ewan Maddock Dam.

It would very convenient that if the flow of water through the pipe was reversed the outflow from the Kawana sewerage treatment plant could be sent via the pipeline back the Landsborough and into the dam to be treated by the strangely huge water treatment plant.

jboast - I agree with you - it's ludicrous to not consider all options. And, certainly, to not consider recycling for industry.

But they haven't said that they will, "not even consider it as part of the overall plan".

They have said that they will consult you and I on whether or not it will be a part of our strategy - which, for all intents and purposes, we have all taken as "putting it in the drinking water". It's just a little further down the line.

You are mistaken in your assertion that "recycled water" already goes into the catchment. There is no high tech water recycling facility on the Sunshine Coast that I am aware of.

What goes into the catchment (the water that you are drinking there in Buderim, jboast) is treated effluent; i.e. treated sewerage from the Maleny Sewerage Treatment Plant.

THAT should be a cause for great concern, investigation and clarification - and should have been a long, time ago. It's been an open secret since the damn was built.

Since long before the SCEC decided it was relevant; i.e. in the last couple of days.

And The Daily hasn't helped either by always using euphemisms like "Maleny's waste water" instead of "treated sewerage".

It's a very distateful, unpalatable truth and we DON'T like it. Someone elses's sewerage (NOT recycled water) is going into the drinking water. What...?

Why wasn't I told...?

(You were right, Mum. Keep boiling and filtering the town water).

bb - The Council will be consulting the public on the use of recycled "water", not effluent, obviously.

Just as it is for the current standard of town water, it's up to individuals to decide whether or not they identify it as recycled "sewerage" or "water" and, subsequently, whether or not they want to drink this (along with Maleny's sewerage).

Asking the public whether or not they minded treated effluent going into Baroon Pocket is, perhaps, something Fred Murray's council should have done back in the 80's when they built it (as if).

Sewerage going into Baroon Pocket has always been more of a "dirty little secret" than something to consult on.

But I agree entirely - " What's the use of consulting with the public after the event has occured". Precisely.

The Western Corridor Recycled Water Project has the capacity to supply up to 84 700 megalitres per annum of high quality water to power stations and industry - and a surplus is available to replenish Wivenhoe Dam in time of drought.
Rooftop rainwater harvesting is a commonsense supply source for the Coast and all three levels of government are funding the Coolum Ridges project, but it is not as drought resilient as interconnected dams, recycling or desalination.
Rainwater tank users know that their tanks overflow in summer rainfall events like the one we are experiencing, and few urban users have the space for more than 20 000l of storage, whatever their roof area. At 230l per person per day with no further rain that's three month's supply - for one person.
Purpose-built underground storages in future residential subdivisions could have much greater capacity, but eventually in a drought they would run out and be on the mains supply with everyone else.

It's interesting but not surprising that the Council can act when it thinks there are votes to be won and needs to consult when it thinks there are votes to be lost.

Followership at its best. When leadership is needed.

Every roof top is potentially water catchment and power generation.

But tell me this

Why should anyone spend a cent ( I've done it all and I'm out of pocket) when the govt is still allowing more coal mines to use more water and more power to make more money for a small number of already rich people? Not to mention the environmental damage and theft from future generations.

It's time for the govts to step up and do what has to be done on schools, hospitals, govt buildings, showgrounds etc.

Maleny town water is sourced many kms up-stream from the Obi Obi Creek. After the town gets it's small allowance of water the rest goes by The Obi Obi Creek into The Baroon Pocket Dam to the coast. At this point in time not one drop of water in the dam comes back to Maleny.

gretel

Not sure what you are getting at with regard to your comment, however, Maleny will soon source its water from the Baroon Pocket Dam via the new pipeline.

I doubt Council will want to maintain its exisitng treatment plant in Maleny once the pipeline is operational.

I was always under the impression that the source for Maleny's water was the weir near the showgrounds. Isn't there a pumping station near there? (not the sewerage works, which is a bit further down).

But, even if the source is further up, on the flats, that's where all the avocado and macadamia orchards are and all those nice septic systems - all those yummy pesticides, herbicide, fertilisers and, yes, sewerage.

And, in rain like we've just had, it all washes down in huge concentrations, in a big rush after accumulating and sitting all through the dry season. Yummy....! Straight into Maleny's water.

I guess, if everyone else has to drink it, so do all you hippies - first. And THEN it goes down your toilet and on to the coast for everyone else to drink. Simple.

There used to be a sign, I don't know if it's still there, in the public toilets at the showgrounds - graffiti. It was there for years - the last time I saw it was a couple of years ago. It said -

Please flush the toilet. The coast needs the water.