A: Yes. technology exists to do this now and it is often used in large international cities.

A: There is a lot of focus in the water treatment industry on new classes and groups of contaminants, and analytical methods are continuously improving to detect them.

A: Biomonitoring provides additional assurance that untested or not yet detected chemicals of concern would not go undetected.

A: When processing water from a wastewater treatment plant, they will use reverse osmosis. This process removes everything out of the water, even dissolved salts. This combined with the multiple barriers will cover these contaminants.

A: This will depend on the type of buffer that is used. The water going into the buffer is first treated to a very high standard, but can sometimes become contaminated in the reservoir/buffer. It is therefore re-treated before being pumped into the drinking water distribution system. 

A: A point about safety is that indirect recycled water can be higher risk than direct. It is important to note that some systems which indirectly treat recycled water – like downstream of discharges – are not as safe as direct recycled water schemes that have been actually designed to minimise the risk.

A: There is no evidence that consumption of purified recycled water systems causes any adverse health effects. The impact on the environment is expected to be beneficial, because treated wastewater is not discharged to the environment. (*see question about Namibia)

A: Namibia’s recycling system has been running since 1968. Over the many decades since then, the consumption of drinking water from the Windhoek system has not been directly associated with any adverse human health impacts. 

A: Austrian commentators studying Windhoek’s scheme have noted that –

“…the people of Windhoek have even derived some pride from the fact that they are the only ones where direct potable reuse is applied worldwide. A prerequisite for this success was of course that since the beginning of potable reuse in 1968 no outbreak of waterborne disease has been experienced and no negative health effects have been attributed to the use of reclaimed water.” From Water Management in Windhoek/Namibia

A: The processes that are already in place would be expected to pick these up and treat correctly (In the case of a sudden pollution E.G. Meth lab dumped).

A: Plants are built to handle peaks. If it gets progressively worse, the plant slows down to ensure quality. At worst, a plant will be closed to problem solve. Large utilities proactively monitor and have predictive models to reduce fear of worst case scenarios.

A: Desalination and water recycling remove everything from water even though it may have been beneficial (e.g. some minerals such as iodine). This water needs to be re-mineralised in the treatment process.

A: Public health is critical and the treatment systems are very closely monitored before water enters the piped network.

A: These systems have a range of safeguards and a high ‘margin of safety’, meaning that they are designed to deal with occasional breaches of contaminant levels and keep the water safe for drinking.

A: The treatment systems use membranes that remove all contamination products from the water.

A: If referring to the solid waste stream – for recycling this is the same as for wastewater treatment we use now. There are ways to make use of solid waste, such as in fertilisers and biofuels

A: The waste stream from desalination is mainly concentrated brine (it is taken from the sea, and put back into the sea in more concentrated form).