Gold Coast Water Watch

Recycled Sewage

 

 

 Recycled Sewage Water 

E - Petition !

Received 19,637 Signatures

Ray Stevens MP for Robina tabled our E-Petition in parliament on April 24th 2009 now recorded in Hansard. Thank everyone who signed the petition,  this was the second largest petition ever submitted from the E-petition Government site.  We also received 705 signatures on paper that were counted towards this petition, making the total 19,637.

Thanks for the Great Effort

 - Have your Say -  The link below will take you to the Petition

New Sewage Petition Coming Soon

 

 

  Recycled Sewage,  Industrial  and  Hospital  Waste

Unable To Be Filtered From Drinking Water

 20 Million Ltrs per day of Gold Coast water is syphoned off.

Dual Pipes already installed between Gold Coast and Brisbane

 CSIRO  admits  that membrane  filtration is not fully understood and that some molecules penetrate the nano-metre scale barriers. The science of micro contaminants  is  far from complete. They  believe  that, “Sewage is  the  ultimate  witch’s  brew.”  It  includes  all  manner of  illicit  drugs  such as ‘ ice’ in human excretions. As  over 80,000  synthetic  chemicals and 1,800  new chemicals each year since 1930 have been released, it is well beyond the current capacity of health and environment authorities to test for and remove these from sewage.

(Ref: CSIRO Sustainability Network 5th June 2007 Sustainability Network Update – No. 66E)

 

CSIRO Scientist, Cohn Creighton admits that there are no tests available to detect new pharmaceuticals such as the abortion drug RU486 (the morning-after pill) in reclaimed sewage.

 http://waterfutures.blogspot.com/search/label/Windhoek

 

 

 

MEDICAL CATASTROPHIES

 

Hormones in British and European recycled drinking water are causing young girls to hit puberty at three years of age and to cause infertility and testicular cancer in males.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23054324-23272,00.html?from=m

 

http://waterfutures.blogspot.com/search/label/Windhoek  

 

Genital Deformities in newborn males have also been linked to hormone disrupting chemicals. Professor John Aitken, Head of Biological Science, Newcastle University says his research suggests that oestrogenic by-products in reused drinking water damage male fertility with resultant cancers. Paediatrician Dr. John Cox also agrees.

http://waterfutures.blogspot.com/search/label/Windhoek

 

Organochlorines found in fertilizers, petro-chemicals, solvents, PCBs, insecticides and dioxins cause foetal deformities, genetic defects, cancer and even death. They bio-accumulate in our bodies to highly toxic levels. egal and illegal drugs, hormone disrupting chemicals, prions, helminths, parasites, bacteria, protozoa, radio-active material, non-biodegradable poisonous substances, heavy metals, petrochemicals, chemotherapy drugs, contaminated blood from animals and humans, morgue waste blood and tissue, waste nano-technology experiments, as well as all waste from scientific and medical experiments, wastewater from all industries, mines, hospitals, abattoirs, tanneries, all fertilizers and pesticides, toxic by-products from treatment methods, and the list is endless!

 

Almost all substances found in sewage cause cancer, genetic mutations and disease. Some will accumulate in our bodies (even at minute doses) until we become poisoned by them or they affect the action of our internal organs.

 

Some chemicals can have multi-generational mutation damage (eg: thalidomide, DEH) when ingested – what damage will happen to all future generations from the myriad of new chemical concoctions yet to be unleashed? The future is an unknown quantity.

 

SCIENTIFIC WARNINGS

 

Dr. Don Bursill, who developed Australia’s Drinking Water Guidelines said that he, “Would not drink recycled sewage and would not back its use.” He warned, “People could die if the system failed or there was an outbreak of disease. There are too many risks for this practice to be introduced. Present systems are not adequate to cover the risk of bacterial contamination.”

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21132904-5006301,00.1html

 

http://www.blogtoowoomba.com/entry.php?w=toowoombawatervote&e_id=567

 

http://waterrecycling.blogspot.com/2007/06/profdon-bursill-on-human-error.html

 

Professor Peter Collignon (Director of Infectious Disease and Microbiology at Canberra Hospital) warns, “Recycling sewage for drinking carries a major risk of outbreak of disease... It has the potential to affect 100’s of thousands.” He warned that, “Historically, keeping sewage from drinking water had been a major cause of public health improvement – but now instead of separating it, they will physically put it back in

.” http://www.abc.net.au/water/stories/s1922096.htm

 

Antoine Frerot, the CEO of Veolia Water, has serious doubts about drinking water recycled from effluent. Veolia owns over 100 sewage treatment plants worldwide, but none of them are designed for drinking the treated sewage.

Author: Senator Barnaby Joyce.

http://www.qld.nationals.org.au/news/default.asp?action=article&ID=1512

 

Mad Cow Disease is caused by prions, which are described by Dr. Frederick Murphy, Dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California as, “The most bizarre infectious agents ever imagined.” Humans contract it from meat or blood from the infected cattle. In humans it’s called VCJD. It has a long incubation time and is fatal. Our Red Cross refuses blood donations from anyone who lived in Britain from 1980 onward. They speculate that a great number of people currently have prions in their blood. Prions cannot be detected in blood, even by modern technology, and have no chance of being detected in recycled sewage.

http://waterfutures.blogspot.com/search/label/prion.
 
 

WHAT’S IN RECYCLED SEWAGE?

 

New Waterborne Pathogens and Viruses

Continue to emerge in drinking water despite modern treatment technology. They have the ability to penetrate micro-filtration systems and are resistant to most other conventional treatments. These include: Microsporidia (found in AIDS patients, also, Giardia and Cryptosporidium), Adenoviruses (49 different human types and the most resistant to UV light inactivation and the longest surviving in water), Parvoviruses (cause gastroenteritis and the most heat resistant), Coronaviruses (SARS – remains stable in faeces), Picobirnaviruses (gastroenteritis in AIDS patients), Circiviruses (found in people with hepatitis), Polyomaviruses (causes fatal disease known as PML, associated with colon cancer, kidney infections, is heat resistant and also found in the urine of healthy people).

 

● Over 87,000 known chemicals, over 11,000 manufactured organochlorins, 250 water borne viruses, 114 intestinal diseases, all legal and illegal drugs, hormone disrupting chemicals, prions, helminths, parasites, bacteria, protozoa, radio-active material, non-biodegradable poisonous substances, heavy metals, petrochemicals, chemotherapy drugs, contaminated blood from animals and humans, morgue waste blood and tissue, waste nano-technology experiments, as well as all waste from scientific and medical experiments, wastewater from all industries, mines, hospitals, abattoirs, tanneries, all fertilizers and pesticides, toxic by-products from treatment methods, and the list is endless!

 

Almost all substances found in sewage cause cancer, genetic mutations and disease. Some will accumulate in our bodies (even at minute doses) until we become poisoned by them or they affect the action of our internal organs.

 

Some chemicals can have multi-generational mutation damage (eg: thalidomide, DEH) when ingested – what damage will happen to all future generations from the myriad of new chemical concoctions yet to be unleashed? The future is an unknown quantity.

 

Fluoridation Chemicals are Toxic Waste

Not many people know that fluoride is actually a highly toxic waste product of the aluminium and phosphate fertilizer industries, for whom disposal was once a serious problem. The base chemical in fluoride is used as a rat poison. The addition of it to our water supplies is a multi-million dollar industry at the risk to public health. Alarmingly our Queensland Premier has decided that we must have it added to our water supplies. We have not been given a choice. We are being forcibly medicated! In addition, when the fluoride is recycled back to drinking water via the sewage, it will bio-accumulate in the eco-system and our bodies... A public health disaster!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Scientist  Merilyn Haines on Recycled Sewage Water

 

 

 

 Dahl Cummins Twelve Year Study of Recycled Sewage Water

 This twelve year study by Dahl requires a medal:

Enjoy your read.

 

 Recycled Sewage Water Report  DahlsRecycledWaterReport.pdf

 

 

  

 

 Recycled Sewage Water

Potential Problems In Use For Irrigation

Recent studies support long standing concerns about possible public health effects of reclaimed water. It has been known for some time that treated waste water effluent, or reclaimed water, contains pathogens that could be transferred to people through contact, including aerosols from sprinklers. Particularly worrisome are high levels of parasites such as giardia and cryptosporidium which are not killed by chlorination. [6]

In 1997, the EPA warned,"(Viable) bacteria from reclaimed water in sprinklers can travel more than 1000 feet in the air." [7] As far back as 1984, researchers concluded that disinfection by chlorination, an important part of wastewater treatment, initially lowers the total number of sewage related bacteria, but may substantially increase the proportions of antibiotic resistant, potentially pathogenic organisms. [8]

More recently, Chang(2007) reported that Staphyloccus aureus bacteria (responsible for MRSA) become more virulent and drug resistant after chlorination.[9] A large study in 2006 confirms that microbes, inactivated but not killed by treatment, can regrow in retention ponds and pipes, becoming a major source of the spread of multi drug resistant pathogens in the environment.[10] During the processing of reclaimed water, fragments can be released from microbes when their cell walls are disrupted.

These fragments are not alive and not affected by disinfectants like chlorine. This intact genetic material can transfer both virulence and drug resistance to living microorganisms in water or soil. Amy Pruden(2006) demonstrates that such genetic fragments pass through sewer water reclamation plants into rivers and into drinking water sources. [11]

Since the number and types of bacteria in a treatment plant are large, a positive environment exists for transfer of drug resistance. Independent scientists found that Santa Barbara's reclaimed water contained chlorine resistant bacteria that were also resistant to eleven of the twelve antibiotics tested.[12]

There is also concern in the industry about organic chemicals, including endocrine disruptors in wastewater [13] In 2005,US Dept of Agriculture reported:"Overall, the environmental and public health impacts of irrigation with reclaimed sewage effluent and the potential degradation of underlying groundwater are largely unknown",[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water

 

 

 

 

 

Lack of Testing and  Standards for Irrigation Water

Reclaimed water is not regulated by the EPA but by the states, using standards formulated decades ago. Newer information shows serious public health concerns about pathogens in the water.[17] Many pathogens cannot be detected by currently used tests.[18] Recent literature also questions the validity of testing for "indicator organisms" instead of pathogens.[19] Nor do present standards consider interactions of heavy metals and pharmaceuticals which may foster the development of drug resistant pathogens in waters derived from sewage.[20]

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reclaimed_water

 

 

 

 

 

 Europe And Mediterranean Countries

Reject Drinking Recycled Sewage Water

The leaders in use of reclaimed water in the U.S. are Florida and California,[32] with Irvine Ranch Water District as one of the leading developers. They were the first district to approve the use reclaimed water for in-building piping and use in flushing toilets.

As Australia continues to battle the 7-10 year drought, nationwide, reclaimed effluent is becoming a popular option. Already three major and capital cities in Australia, have committed to adding reclaimed effluent to their dwindling dams, including Adelaide, Brisbane and indirectly Sydney. Brisbane has been seen as a leader in this trend, and other cities and towns will review the 'Western Corridor Recycled Water Project' once completed. Already Goulbourn, Canberra, Newcastle, and Regional Victoria, Australia are also considering building a reclaimed effluent process.

According to a EU-funded study "Europe and the Mediterranean countries are lagging behind" California, Japan or Australia "in the extent to which reuse is being taken up." According to the study "the concept (of reuse) is difficult for the regulators and wider public to understand and accept."[33]

 

 

 

Take a tour of a waste water treatment plant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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