House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Question Time Stormwater Harvesting STORMWATER HARVESTING Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly Heysen Leader of the Opposition 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 House of Assembly The Hon. M.J. Atkinson: You mean road water? The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mrs REDMOND House of Assembly 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 House of Assembly Chaffey Minister for the River Murray Minister for Water Security 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.