Government abandons recycling for more unneccessary desalination

Tuesday, 26 June 2007 04:00

TEC Urban Campaigner Mr Leigh Martin said “By promoting ever more desalination the Government has made clear that election commitments to develop water recycling in Sydney are now worthless. Every dollar spent on desalination is a dollar that won’t be spent on sustainable water solutions such as recycling and rainwater tanks”.

TEC has strongly criticised the Government’s progress on developing recycling with construction of a recycled water grid for Sydney given a 25 year completion target.

“It is telling that the Government has a go slow policy on developing the recycled water grid while racing ahead with more and more desalination that Sydney doesn’t need” Mr Martin said.

TEC has also warned that doubling the desalination plant will undermine the cause of water conservation and place a severe financial impost on Sydney residents.

“Rather than encouraging residents to conserve water, Sydney Water will need to sell more and more water to cover the cost of desalination. The price of water will also have to rise sharply to fund the plant meaning that Sydney Water customers will be paying the price for the Government’s lack of vision for years to come”, Mr Martin said.