Gold Coast residents opposed drinking treated sewerage in 2006

Queenslanders were thought to be heading for a referendum but Gold Coast residents said no to drinking treated sewage.

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Monday July 31, 2006

QUEENSLAND were thought to be heading for a referendum but Gold Coast residents said no to drinking treated sewage.

More than 80 per cent of residents who participated in a city council survey opted for desalination rather than recycled effluent as their preferred water source.

The research, gathered over 20 months with a sampling of more than 12,000 residents, prompted the council to opt for a desalination plant as the region’s emergency bulk supply.

While Premier Peter Beattie announced a referendum would gauge the level of support for the controversial recycling option, councillors said the people had already spoken.

Gold Coast Bulletin, Monday July 31, 2006

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Mayor Ron Clarke said the community had picked desalination as a “far better compromise”.

Water committee chairwoman Cr Daphne McDonald said the community clearly said “no” to using recycled water for drinking.

Cr McDonald said Gold Coast residents felt the same way as residents of Toowoomba, who voted strongly against drinking recycled water in a weekend referendum. “In Toowoomba their backs are really up against the wall but even though they’ve got no other option, they’ve come out with a resounding no,” said Cr McDonald.

Indirect potable reuse – in which treated sewage is pumped back to the dam and treated again before entering the water supply – was considered by the council the previous year, along with desalination, as a possible bulk emergency supply.

A council spokeswoman said the community was consulted for more than 20 months through focus groups, newsletters and surveys.