Urban potable reuse: contrasting perspectives of water industry professionals and elected politicians in Sydney, Australia

ABSTRACT

Through interviews of 20 sitting politicians and water practitioners in New South Wales, Australia, this article explores the underlying perceptions of the viability of potable water reuse for Sydney in decision-making practices to explore how politics and water management expertise can come into conflict. In particular, politicians’ stances on the issue of water reuse are affected by the wider politicized but unrelated issue of climate change. Three key themes emerged as barriers to the implementation of water reuse schemes: existing water governance arrangements, limited community support and the perceived lack of a water crisis.

KEYWORDS:

• Potable reuse
• recycled water
• public perception
• politicians
• water supply planning
• urban planning
• urban politics
• Australia

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the 10 Australian water industry leaders and 10 New South Wales elected representatives who agreed to contribute to this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.