Sanderson Media

Effluent and money that takes the scenic, recycling, plumbing journey

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Pictured, (at right) Senior Chemist with Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Glen Barry, and reuse pioneer, Graham Campbell, from Bundaberg, as they examine soil fertilized with effluent water and biosolids.

The recycling of money down the sewer is an accident but recycling effluent onto beaches can also be a bit of an accident.

Sounds a bit farfetched?
It seems that most official effluent discharges go out to sea off SE Queensland at Luggage Point. In Sydney effluent water is discharged off Malabar, North Heads and Bondi. It all works if the correct currents are flowing.

If the tides are wrong, it washes back onto our sundrenched beaches where sundrenched tourists and locals are sprawled in unsuspecting, peaceful bliss. This is not the way to recycle.

Some finicky people complain about the recycling of effluent water onto agricultural land, despite future scary scenarios about severe water shortages for this planet.

Lets take a quirky look at Natural Resources in Queensland doing their part to promote effluent and biosolid reuse, that’s the solid floaties.

Queensland is the trendsetter with 13.3% of municipal effluent water currently being recycled but the population still struggles with the yuk factor. Currently Sydney Water Corporation only recycles 2% of the available effluent, which is used for industrial, agricultural and domestic purposes.

In Queensland it is used to water golf courses, public open space, some agriculture and sugar cane, to sweeten the lives of tourists and the coffee in executive boardrooms.

The amount is increasing each month as people catch on to the value of secondary treated effluent water.

In a recent scheme, Stanthorpe Shire Council began recycling most of its effluent water onto farms that produce grapes and stone fruits. The grapes are delicious. You’d never know the origin of the water unless I told you.

If you think that grapes grown on effluent water is a problem then how many dinosaurs do you think may have digested the water that went into your café latte today?

Not yet convinced?

Well in a dry continent like Australia, effluent water going into streams and oceans is like washing money down the drain.

Change the way we viewed excrement

Scientists for years have been examining crud in laboratories with a view to using it on crops, initially sugarcane.

Scientifically it is called biosolids, the dried out stuff from the sewer.

Senior Queensland NRM Chemist, Glenn Barry, spent 30 years examining soil and plant samples when, without warning, biosolid analysis was added to his work load.

His employer, Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines, began researching the reuse of sewage sludge on agricultural land and thereafter, the analysis of human effluent became routine for the Department.

Remember that the more we recycle to agriculture, the less we swim with in rivers and oceans, or share with unsuspecting fish that we happen to catch and eat in our recreational and innocent way.

Glenn Barry said: “Due to examining biosolids, it was important to cover up in the lab and wear protective devices. On one occasion a colleague even turned up in the equivalent of a space suit, as a joke.”

Most chemists have a good sense of humour, but it is well known that human biosolids can contain pathogens, heavy metals, pesticides, viruses, protozoans and bacteria.

We obviously do something horrible to our foods before we do that digesting excreting thing.

Mr Barry said: “We had always treated it as something to be disposed of but now we were investigating its value as a resource. We had to change the way we viewed excrement.”

Across Australia, some local authorities have stockpiles of dried biosolids up to 10 metres high. Most are looking for acceptable methods of disposal that do not impact on the environment. We want to help them deal with it. In Qld it is being trialled on sugarcane which goes through a refining process and that makes it all right, if no one tells you.

So in the interest of promoting this subject, why money does money literally travel down the drain to the STP?

I’ve interviewed STP operators but no one should feel sorry for them. Most are innovative and in possession of a good sense of humor and furthermore they collect our money.

I have seen STP’s where fish actually live in the ponds and thrive on the nutrients in the effluent, with some workers wetting fishing lines during dinner breaks.

It builds up their skill but they have enough sense to not eat the fish brimming with nutrients.

However there are some things that don’t get away. At most Australian STP’s, there are $5, $10 and $20 notes that have adventure, unheard of sights of the city by taking the scenic route.

The money is caught, washed, disinfected and pegged out to dry.

There is no way of telling whose banknotes have been on the scenic plumbing route. It is my guess that we should keep money free from contact with our food.

Here is my best reconstruction of how this phenomenon occurs:

Just imagine someone standing beside a toilet pedestal, sneezing, and spluttering as they pull out a handkerchief, in multitudes of homes, pubs, workplaces, shopping centres, throughout this wide brown land.

A badly designed plastic banknote springs out of the pocket or handkerchief, landing in the toilet.

Not having the background of a chemist or STP operator, and possibly being seedy or a bit under the weather, the embarrassed person flushes the problem away.

Retrieval is left to more capable plumbers, further down the line.

A snapshot of the Stanthorpe scheme
Stanthorpe Shire Council, in conjunction with the State Government, has recently completed construction of Stage 1 of a Wastewater Reuse Scheme that takes treated wastewater from the Stanthorpe sewage treatment plan and supplies it to eight local horticultural growers. The total cost of construction of the scheme is approximately $3.5M. The scheme attracted a 50% government subsidy on Council’s net capital costs for the works (subsidy $1,382,782), with the balance to be borne by the participating irrigators.

(Sanderson Media's breezy writing style and great images can get your message out to the world) contact john@sanderson-media.com

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