WC138 SeptOct 2024 - Flipbook - Page 30
WASTEWATER
Overcoming the YUCK! Factor
As pressures increase on water supply, circular
water management is being considered more often.
But can the public be persuaded to drink reused water?
C
ONVENTIONAL CANADIAN water
systems have “take-make-waste” linear
resource flows; we pump freshwater, use it
for high (e.g., drinking) and low (e.g., toilet flushing) value applications, then clean
and discharge the wastewater. While effective for
originally intended purposes—rapidly meeting water
demands and removing wastewater to protect human
health—these systems are not ideal for tackling
contemporary issues and future challenges. Climate
change, population growth, excessive water demands,
and aging infrastructure are intensifying water supply
pressures. In response, the concept/practice of circularity is emerging as a responsible water management
philosophy.
Circular water systems are created by recovering,
restoring, repurposing, and recycling used water
resources. By valuing all water—never perceiving it as
“waste”—communities can reduce pollution, energy
use, and resource demands. These outcomes enhance
water system efficiencies, resilience to extreme weather conditions, climate change mitigation, and environmental conservation. Despite such benefits, water
reuse is typically only pursued as a slightly desperate
‘last resort’ to survive extreme drought conditions,
and maybe not even then.
Severe drought between 2003 and 2006 did not
motivate Toowoomba, Australia, residents to accept
Stephanie Shouldice
is a Circular Economy Specialist for
the City of Guelph and a RRU Doctor of
Social Science candidate.
30
WATER C AN ADA • SEP TEMBER/OCTOBER 2024
an urgently needed water reuse project. The indirect
potable solution—reintroducing purified wastewater
back into the drinking supply—was unanimously
supported by city council and all local State and
Commonwealth Parliament members. In contrast,
the Citizens Against Drinking Sewage campaigned
vigorously against the project. So even after 10 weeks
of extensive public education, residents voted against
the project via public referendum. Ultimately, fears
and perceptions about health and safety and damage
to the city’s reputation won out. They didn’t want to
be known as “Poowoomba.” Water reuse’s perceived
“ick” factor is considered the greatest barrier to its
use.
The idea of using water that once touched body
products—urine, vomit, feces—from thousands
of strangers is typically met with an instinctive
“YUCK!!!” disgust response. People are compelled
to reject, avoid, and distance themselves from things
they find disgusting. Consequently, people’s water
reuse disgust is connected to their unwillingness to
adopt this practice. The usual approach to tackle
public disgust is providing logical facts about water
reuse’s value and safety. This behaviour change
approach is based on an information-rationality
assumption: that people are solely rational beings
and if they just knew better, they would make the
“right” choice. But enhancing public knowledge has
proven unreliable for combatting the “toilet-to-tap”
messaging used by opposition groups to motivate
powerful public resistance. For example, emotional
disgust-laden messaging and public pushback stalled
water reuse in San Diego, California for more than
30 years. Clearly, we need a new public engagement
approach to accelerate water reuse uptake and prevent
wasted resources on delayed projects and ineffective
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
Getty Images
BY STEPHANIE SHOULDICE
