Over the past few weeks, we have investigated the issues of wastewater in our society. Beginning with the constituents of wastewater, we have explored how we can improve our wastewater infrastructure in the future through means of smart solutions and social innovation.
We have identified the problems that are facing the water industry and we have also come up with some feasible solutions. But, we should all know very well by now that change in this world is something that never happens overnight!
Many times, this is because of the presence of legislation and regulations framework. If you want to do something, you’ve got to be willing to work around the red tape.
Regulations are vital for a functioning society; however, they have both perks and perils. Without them, people could just do whatever they wanted without caring for how their actions affect people around them. However, whilst sometimes regulations can be the biggest hurdles for us to create positive change, changing people’s attitudes can be far more difficult.
As consumers we set the standard pretty high for our drinking water, at the end of the day it’s our most frequently consumed liquid and we like to make sure it is clean. So despite, councils having regulations and guidelines for discharging wastewater, some of the major reasons for the lack of advancement in water recycling has been due to public reluctance in using recycled water.
One of the areas of human psychology is the contagion heuristic, which is a thinking mentality that leads people to avoid contact with people or objects viewed as “contaminated” by previous contact.
Another problem is the lack of education or to an extent the ignorance amongst many in society towards the understanding of where their water comes from or goes to.
A survey was conducted in Oregon State University back in 2008, where only 13% of participants accepted the use of recycled wastewater for human contact or consumption. But when asked about industrial, irrigation or municipal uses, the acceptance response rate rose to a staggering 55%.
For a slightly more local example, during the millennium drought of 2006, the town of Toowoomba voted against a wastewater recycling scheme. However, despite public reluctance, then Queensland premier Peter Beattie approved the construction of one of the world’s biggest water recycling at a cost of $2.5 billion.
Was it a success? Absolutely not!
Despite the infrastructure being built, the water has never been released into the city’s drinking supply. In 2009, under then Queensland premier Anna Bligh, it was decided that the water would not be used from this scheme until dam levels fell to below 40 per cent.
It seems that even talking about drinking recycled water has become a political taboo. Currently, NSW is experiencing the worst drought in history and despite this, water recycling is being discouraged. The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) has imposed a surcharge to increase the cost of installing water recycling systems in urban areas connecting to Sydney Water’s infrastructure.
Regions around the world such as California, Singapore and Namibia seemed to have a much wider acceptance for drinking recycled wastewater. The process is commonly known as “toilet to tap”. Furthermore, whilst California legislation supports the consumption of recycled water, the biggest driver that creates an acceptance for doing so amongst the wider community is the education amongst residents of the process that goes behind the treatment of wastewater.
On National Public Radio (NPR) from the link below, one of the few opponents of drinking recycled water admits saying “It’s pretty gross. I would feel like before I drink it, I’d want to really know how they purify and stuff.”
Here in Perth, we are actually leading the way as far as waste water treatment goes. The Water Corporation established a visitor centre where thousands of outreach school programs were undertaken. School children along with their parents come to the visitor centre to underthe wastewater treatment process, the technology behind it and its risks.
This is reflected in another survey that was conducted by the Water Corporation in 2012 where 79% of Perth residents were in support of the wastewater recycling scheme.
Another big driver in creating change for wastewater results from the circumstances that presented to a respective community. For regions like Texas and California, the residents had no choice but to go with the wastewater recycling due to the severe drought in 2014/2015.
So how do we get people to accept them? What makes Perth, Singapore, Texas and California stand out from the rest when it comes to wastewater?
When faced with no other alternative, it is human nature to simply go with the flow and accept the current trend as the right path. Perth on the hand, whilst fortunately has not experienced a drought recently, strategies from the Water Corporation have come a long way to building strong dialogue with residents on the process of recycling wastewater.
We can see that wastewater regulations have to be tacked in conjunction with wastewater education. So, for the objectives of the united nation’s sustainable development goals, perhaps SDG 13 can be made broader to educate not just youth but also the broader community about climate change as well as urban wastewater treatment. The United Nation’s sustainable development goals cannot be made so discrete because these goals are interconnected and strategies for tackling one goal can be incorporated into another. SDG 6 of achieving clean water and sanitation will still require actions to be taken towards SDG 13 and vice versa.
References
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-19/drinking-recycled-water/9546900
The Water Police 