Question Time

STORMWATER HARVESTING

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:06): My question is to the Minister for Water Security. Why is the government running a campaign against the use of stormwater for drinking purposes? South Australians—

The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: You mean road water?

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs REDMOND: —already drink stormwater from the Murray-Darling Basin, stormwater from the Adelaide Hills catchment and recycled wastewater discharged into the Onkaparinga River, yet yesterday the minister told the house:

We are not going to put at risk the South Australian water supply into our homes for drinking water by putting stormwater directly into the supply. End of story.

The Hon. K.A. MAYWALD (Chaffey—Minister for the River Murray, Minister for Water Security) (14:06): I welcome the question, again, because it actually demonstrates the lack of understanding about direct potable re-use and stormwater, in a far more diluted sense, in our river catchments. The issue that the opposition is talking about is direct potable re-use. We are not going to put water off roads where the technology does not give us confidence that all the risks can be mitigated for public health reasons. We are simply not going to do it. Opposition members have clearly delineated their position on this. They want to drink water off roads: we don't.