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December 2010 / January 2011 In this issue:
Recently SEQ Water listed the three dams that supply Brisbane and surrounds at a combined capacity of over 100 per cent. Following the recent rains deposited over SE Queensland filling our dams to over-capacity, our government is considering mothballing several water projects.  Premier Anna Bligh said every facility on the water grid will be scrutinized including the Tugun desalination plant and the Bundamba water treatment plant.Ms Bligh said several money-saving options are available. "One (option) is operating these facilities at a significantly reduced rate to keep them ticking over but without producing very much water; (another) is to close them down entirely for a period of time." Ms Bligh said she can't say at this stage which assets or upcoming projects will be targeted and she did not put a timetable on an announcement. "I want to bring water bills down as much as we possibly can, even if it's only by a few dollars, because every dollar counts" she said.  She insisted that any change would not leave the State unprepared for the next drought."The water grid is a water insurance policy for SE Queensland, not just for today but literally for the next 50 years" she said. "Just because our dams are full doesn't mean that we will not need the desal plant in the future. We would be foolish to think that we won't see another drought and tough water times ahead. The Water Grid The three dams that supply the majority of water to Brisbane and its surrounds are North Pine, Somerset and Wivenhoe. Construction is also underway on a water grid featuring more than 450km of pipeline and eight facilities. The Wyaralong Dam near Beaudesert and the Northern Pipeline interconnector are also under construction. Once completed, the grid is expected to deliver about 350,000 megalitres of additional water a year. Residents asked to help clean up the sewers Water and wastewater company Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU), prompted by an increase of foreign materials in sewers, has asked residents to help them clean up the sewers by being careful about whey they flush. Fats and oils and non-decomposable items such as nappies and anti-bacterial wipes contribute to blockages in the wastewater network. Even tree roots and cement from building sites can be detrimental effects if they end up in our sewers. Added to these, illegal plumbing connections and predictions of higher-than-average rainfall this summer increase the likelihood of system overflows. To help prevent overflows, QUU maintains the sewerage network by removing blockages through a regular cleaning program; condition monitoring using closed circuit television (CCTV); the sewerage pump station's wet-well cleaning; and investigating illegal stormwater connections and dumping of trade waste. QUU ask residents not to flush disposal nappies, cotton wool, ear buds, anti-bacterial wipes, Chux (dish cloths), tissue, solid objects (eg toys), razor blades, syringes and medical dressings. And please refrain from putting down the sink: oil, grease, food stuffs (eg from garbage disposal units), tea leaves, coffee grinds, paints, pesticides and other chemicals.  Sewer studies based on leaky science Questionable sampling techniques have led to murky conclusions about the contents of wastewater.  Although the sewage en route to a municipal treatment plant may seem to be a continuous foul-smelling stream, it is in fact a mosaic of wastewater pulses discharged from toilets, dishwashers, hospitals and industries. And chemicals flushing into sewer systems have been in the news for years. From opiates and hormones to heart medications, studies have detected a range of pollutants. Tests of sewage from hospitals have uncovered antibiotics, and investigations of sewage systems have exposed widespread illicit drug use in cities worldwide. But now a group of water-management scientists claim that some of these studies may be making exaggerated claims, producing dramatic variation in concentration estimates, or not detecting substances because of fundamental flaws in sampling protocols. Less than 5% of them offered a proper analysis of the system under investigation and they didn't take into account sewer type substance and source when setting up their sampling methods, he says. Christopher Ort, an environmental engineer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, says "There can be cases where you really get the wrong conclusions." |
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