Lately, I've been really getting into politics and stuff, and I just found out the most disgusting thing I've ever heard!

Australias government is run by the Labour Party right now and they are the worst government ever, and a few years ago they started a new 'project'.

By the end of 2011, Victorians will be drinking shitty water, literally.

They are going to 'clean' our toilet and shower water and make us drink it! I swear, when I found this out, I just about vomited.

I'm just happy that in a few years I'm moving to Japan.

Sorry, I had to share, its just so feral I mean, when a girl has her period, the people in her family will have to drink 'cleaned' period water.

I'm just so disgusted.

I need to stop talking or I'm going to be sick

OMG i cant beleive that's gonna happen. im disgusted as well

I know, it's horrible. It would probably cause young kids to be sick if they drank it

damn that sucks, i live in victoria

My husband is retired from our local municipality (as well as the military), and I worked for the City as well when I was younger, so I'm very familiar with the water treatment plant, have been taken through it by employees who I know. They gave me that line about the water that comes out after the processing being perfectly good to drink. But, would they drink a glass of it? NO! Consider this: fish and frogs in certain lakes and rivers in the U.S. have been found to be becoming increasingly andgrogenous in the past ten years. That means that the male frogs have been growing female organs, and vice-versa. The reason: hormones from urine of people using hormones (birth control and hormone replacement) is not processed out by water treatment plants, and is detectable in dangerous amounts in the water released from the treatment plants. This is not science fiction. In Wisconsin, there was a terrible outbreak of cryptosporidia. Older people and people with compromised immune systems were dying, healthy people suffering dysentery and being hospitalized. Public health officials tried to blame farmers with cattle for run-off from farms getting into river water, but in the end, they were FORCED to admit that their water treatment plant was to blame.

Actually I don't find it disgusting at all, as long as the plant is doing its job and cleaning the water completely. It's a great way to save water and we each need to do our part. If and when I ever have the money for it, I plan on hooking a cleaning system up to my water supply to reuse ours.

And the idea really isn't all that strange or new, back in the 80s or so, explorers would not bring any water with them and instead would bring a purifier to reuse their urine as it made their packs much lighter and they wouldn't have to worry about needing to find a source of fresh water.

Oh thats so sad! It reminds me of that movie about water pallution. The Government is really screwed up, I swear! They don't care about the people, and only care about themselves.
Julia Gillard back stabed Kevin Rudd and became Australias PM, she gets 700000 when she retires, shes taken other peoples retirment money and now my generation have to pay to fix all that up. So many people have lost their homes and jobs, and just a few days ago, I went to the local shopping center around the corner from where I live and saw a mother sleeping in her car with her two kids who were under 10 years old. It was so sad.
They have put in a tax that takes over half the minors earnings and they just keep adding these taxes so they get more money.
Australia is in dept by $90,534,670,476.00 < I can't even say that number
Australia is becoming a horrible place to live in now. Honestly, I am proud to be Australian, but its people like Julia Gillard and the Labour party of our government that make me think that theres nothing to be proud of at all.

I just hope the Liberal Party get into government this election, though they can't stop the desalination plant because the Labour Party have been working on it for over three years.

I'm sorry, I just really needed to get that off my chest lol.
If you don't believe me about the debt, search in google 'Australia debt clock'.

And Ely, Julia Gillard brought in an Internet Filter, meaning that the government can see absolutly everything we do on the net, and we can't stop it. But if Liberal win the election, the filter will be scrapt and we live with out fear of the government perving on us

This is actually already common in the American southwest where water is scarce. And reclaimed wastewater has been used to irrigate crops for ages (so even if we're not drinking it directly its still ending up in our food). I know there's an increased risk from using reclaimed water, but water contamination can happen whether you're using recycled wastewater or 'clean' water from natural sources. Considering that where I live during droughts (i.e. almost every summer) water demand exceeds supply I'm not too bothered by it.

I respect your oppinion, but I would be so disgusted knowing that I am showering in dirty water, because I really don't trust the Labour Party, because I know that when this comes in, they wont be showering in recycled water.

I am fully supportive of differences in opinion because they make governments slower to action and less reactionary (seriously!). And this actually gave me a chance to learn a little about Australian politics (which, aside from some John Howard quotes, I admittedly knew NOTHING about) which I'd always found a little confusing since terminology is somewhat different than in the U.S.

Tinkerbad wrote:

And Ely, Julia Gillard brought in an Internet Filter, meaning that the government can see absolutly everything we do on the net, and we can't stop it. But if Liberal win the election, the filter will be scrapt and we live with out fear of the government perving on us

lol i think

If not done properly many severe problems can arise, genetically, and health wise, after prolonged exposure. However, as fresh, clean, and safe water becomes harder to come by (yes folks - its not just an oil shortage, we are also using up our fresh water supplies) it become necessitous for us to find safe and effective means to reuse what we already waste. There are so many things that we ingest, and cover our bodies in, that are far more disturbing that drinking purified toilet water... if people knew everything about their food, clothes, detergents, cosmetics, etc they would seriously reconsider what they ingest and purchase.

I would say that this post is the greatest advertisement for a whole-house reverse osmosis filtration system that was ever made. If I lived in your area, I'd certainly be investigating it ASAP. NOT because of general distrust of the government, however, but because I believe that workers in water treatment facilities are just as prone to error as those in other industries.

One thing I would request of all responding, though, is that we steer clear of political rhetoric. The forum is not the place to discuss politics of any sort - we all know where that often leads, don't we?

Thank you all for a civil discourse on this thread thus far!!

~~Wiccan~~

I am on board with the whole "Uh, its already happening" train. The military has been doing it for years, especially with any desert travel that they do, and as Janey said, in the Southwestern parts of the US where drought happens yearly, it is practically their only reusable source of water. Plus in large cities, that is some people's ONLY source of water. Its called "City water" here, because only people living within the city limits are able to get it.

I have a whole house filter and a pimped out water softener. So my water goes through two filtration systems before it reaches my faucet, and on top of that, I have a Pur filter attached for my drinking water. So what I ingest goes through three filters while what I clean with goes through two. Granted, I get ground water as opposed to plant-treated water, but as I explained before I do not technically live within the city limits. So I feel my water is just as clean as a person who gets it from a treatment plant. (Theirs is probably cleaner, but I am not cool with Fluoride being in my drinking water, and I am sure that THEY would rather not have rust and whatnot in THEIRS. So give and take.)

Either way, the idea of "clean water" is impossible. Water in its natural state is filled with all sorts of microbes and baddies that can mess up your digestive system and cause death if not treated properly.

My question is: Do you know where your water NOW comes from? Is it ground? And if so, chances are it is already full of all the pollutants that have been mentioned, plus some (including microbes, rust, sulfur, etc.)

I think I'm guilty of hedging into into the "political rhetoric" Wiccan - I'll try and be good from here on out because its true - opening the political can of worms never leads anywhere good.

Terri brings up a good point - a lot of people don't know where their water comes from (or where their trash goes, what their municipality really does with their "recycling", how their power is generated, etc.) because most people never think to ask.

Yes, everyone play nice.

And let's stop using the term "disgusting". What we might find appalling in one place might be a necessity in another region, especially in places that are currently battling droughts.

And no bashing political parties no matter how much you dislike them.

I don't know if this is truly disgusting, there are several methods to purify water. As long as they do it right there shouldn't be a problem because there won't be any traces of blood, urine or any other organic matter in it. It will just be H2O. There is a rest stop in Vermont that uses pond plants to recycle waste water and the product is completely clean and the plants and microorganisms in the pond thrive.

In keeping with previous posts from the mods, I am removing the post I had loaded. Wiccan is right, this is not the venue for political comment.

HRM. Everything is so politicized now-a-days... even fanfiction? (((

Yeah, this is a gross idea. Does that mean it won't work? I dunno. It's important to remember, though, that something being nasty does not mean that it won't work. It'll most likely be fine.

I hate to play Devils Advocate, BUT just because something is being used successfully in one area does not mean it will be used well in another-- the US nuke-making facilities, for example, have done a good job at not killing people, whereas the USSR had multiple leaks and problems with the same basic idea... that same thing can be applied to any situation.

But hey-- I don't live in Australia (they have politics, apparently. ;p lulJK) so I don't have a clue wether or not these policy makers can be trusted; possibly they are stinkers who will botch it entirely... or maybe this plan will be awesome and work fine. *shrug*

Ultimately, I don't see the need to talk politics-- can't we just wrinkle our noses in unison and say "wow, that stinks, good thing you're moving soon..." And be happy? It's not a issue of global security or anything...

Happy days?