Drought relief in South East, Queensland, Australia, provided by membrane‐reclaimed water

Abstract

Many communities across the United States and around the world are experiencing, or will experience, water supply shortages. This article discusses Queensland, Australia's holistic approach to the problem and will help utilities better understand state‐of‐the‐art water reclamation and recycling. Queensland's range of solutions to water shortages includes high‐technology equipment and effective public communications resulting in high levels of public support and “belt tightening” conservation. Part of Queensland's multifaceted approach is the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, one of the world's largest high‐technology water recycling projects. The program involves applying micro‐ and ultramembrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and advanced oxidation to provide potable‐quality water for industrial use at major power plants, irrigation of, and, if needed, augmentation of the community's source water reservoir. Effective public communications have led to public support, which has been a key to success. Survey results for 2007 show that 71% of residents supported recycled water use and have successfully conserved water, with a per capita residential use of only 32 gpd (123 L/d), likely one of the best water saving communities in the developed world. Queensland's experience may help other communities understand the range of options that are available.

Drivers for and against municipal wastewater recycling: a review

“…A limitation of the 25 articles is that almost half lacked information on how data were collected. For eight studies, authored by consultants (Apostolidis et al, 2011;Freeman et al, 2008;Traves et al, 2008) or representatives from government departments (Anderson, 2006;Kracman et al, 2001), we assumed that data were obtained from interviews and/or direct observations. Of the studies that did state the research method, eight relied on data collected via a literature review and/or analysis of secondary data.…”

“…At the regional level, authors have studied major water recycling projects seeking to ensure water supply security at the state level, e.g. Queensland (Freeman et al, 2008;Traves et al, 2008). Others have shown the benefits of water recycling projects for achieving regional industrial synergies between wastewater treatment plants and minerals processing sites (van Beers et al, 2007b).…”

“…Generally, studies that focused at higher levels (country or global) lacked specificity regarding the outcome investigated -either several outcomes were considered or the outcome was not defined. (Anderson, 2006;Chanan et al, 2011;Giurco et al, 2011;Hurlimann and Dolnicar, 2010); (C) (Freeman et al, 2008;Traves et al, 2008;van Beers et al, 2007b;Yüce et al, 2012); (D) (Bischel et al, 2012); (E) (Chang et al, 2013); (F) (Hochstrat et al, 2006); (G) (Hochstrat et al, 2008); (H) (Apostolidis et al, 2011); (I) (Arbon and Ireland, 2003a;Radcliffe, 2010); (J) ( Barbagallo et al, 2001;Lazarova et al, 2000;Radcliffe, 2006); (K) (Asano, 2005;Chen et al, 2013); (L) (Bixio et al, 2006).…”