I had a bottle of NeWater — the Singaporean recycled water product — at the ready to see if anyone wanted to try it.

People will drink recycled water | theage.com.au

The water crisis has changed our attitude to this precious resource.

IN 2005 I was invited to present at a federal parliamentary library seminar on recycled water. I had a bottle of NeWater — the Singaporean recycled water product — at the ready to see if anyone wanted to try it. I thought this would be a good ice-breaker, but I got more than I bargained for.

One well-known minister scampered up the front for a taste, while another stayed at the back quizzing me intently as to how I had smuggled this contraband into the country — as if quarantine officials would have any interest in a small bottle of water!

Would you have tried the recycled water? The use of recycled water for drinking purposes already occurs in many parts of the world, including Australia and Victoria (as acknowledged on page 52 of the Victorian Government's Central Region Sustainable Water Strategy).

In many media outlets, and in public policy documents, Australians appear to be polarised about drinking recycled water, but is this really so? In the past six years of my research — perhaps as the drought has worsened and discussion of recycled water in the media has increased — a significant change has occurred in people's opinions on drinking recycled water.

Mawson Lakes is a "greenfields" suburb in South Australia. Its residents were among the first in the country to use recycled water in a "third pipe" system that services toilets, gardens and car washing. In 2002, only 2 per cent of the residents said they'd be willing to drink recycled water. Five years later, after they'd been using the third pipe for two years, 58 per cent indicated they'd be willing to drink recycled water, and an additional 12 per cent were undecided. This increase in support for drinking recycled water can be explained by a number of factors — an important one is that these people have had positive experiences with recycled water for non-drinking uses.