Vic: Billions of litres of water wasted

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2006
Vic: Billions of litres of water wasted

The BRACKS government's been accused of misleading Victorians about the amount of water
it recycles .. with billions of litres dumped into Port Phillip Bay each year.

The Sunday Age reports former Melbourne Water general manager BILL FORRESTER says the
government's indulging in a scandalous con job .. misleading the public's about how much
water's being recycled.

The paper says the last Melbourne Water annual report says 11.3 per cent of Melbourne's
waste water was recycled in 2004-05.

But 94.7 per cent of that water is class C effluent .. which has been recycled at water-treatment
plants .. and it flows out to sea or onto Melbourne Water land at Werribee.

Mr FORRESTER says he was in charge when the BRACKS government decided to inflate the
existing percentage of recycled water by including the internal recycled water.

Victorian Water Minister JOHN THWAITES denies the figures are misleading .. and says
the state's on track to meet its 2020 recycling target.

Mr FORRESTER left Melbourne Water amicably less than 18 months ago.

AAP RTV jat/cp

KEYWORD: RECYCLE (MELBOURNE)

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