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CANBERRA - Chronic drought and climate change will force all states to embrace recycled drinking water, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says.
Mr Beattie has begun selling his selling his "ugly" plan for the state's parched south-east to begin drinking recycled waste water as early as next year.
The premier yesterday scrapped plans for a A$10 ($11.24) million referendum on the issue, saying record-low inflows to dams had left him with no choice but to introduce treated sewage in the drinking supply.
Mr Beattie said he respected the views of state governments such as NSW and Victoria which are opposed to recycling, but he predicted all governments eventually would have to introduce it.
"I think in the end, because of the drought, all of Australia is going to end up drinking recycled purified water," Mr Beattie told ABC Radio.
"I think we're all destined to do it.
"This is not rocket science. Now, I'm not going to give advice to NSW and Victoria. I'm just simply saying if the drought continues in its current status, then frankly I don't think anyone's going to have any choice.
"These are ugly decisions, but you either drink water or you die. There's no choice. It's liquid gold, it's a matter of life and death."
He acknowledged breaking a promise by scrapping the referendum, but said the worst drought on record had backed his government into a corner.
"I also said to them that if we get to a situation where we have no choice, we're going to do it anyway," Mr Beattie said.
The situation of no choice had arrived "sooner than we thought", he said. "And we're going to do it."
Incoming federal Environment and Water Resources Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who will be sworn in tomorrow, said the states had to be open minded about recycling as a viable option.
"We support recycling. Obviously it has to be weighed up against other alternatives, but I think in Brisbane it is a very viable alternative and their water crisis is very extreme," he told the Nine Network.
"Brisbane is a classic case of why governments have to have vision and plan ahead."
- AAP
