When Steve Capewell took the stage at the VicWater 2025 Annual Conference, he opened with a surprising reference to the animated film Over the Hedge. In it, a character warns: “Not in the lake we drink from.” It’s a simple public health message that water professionals are well aware of: the separation of sewage from drinking water is fundamental. So why, he asked, would we deliberately recycle water for drinking? The answer, he argued, comes down to necessity, diversity and cost.
Capewell drew on Perth’s experience to illustrate the point. Faced with decades of declining rainfall and a near-zero inflow year in 2001, Perth needed climate-independent supplies. Desalination was one option, but at $1.90 per kilolitre, it was up to eight times more expensive than traditional sources. Purified recycled water (PRW), at $1.35 per kilolitre, offered a lower-cost alternative with far lower carbon emissions.
Globally, more than 35 large-scale PRW plants now supply water to 30 million people, with projects rapidly expanding across the US, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. By 2050, over 100 cities are expected to rely on PRW for part of their drinking water supply. But as Capewell emphasised, “it isn’t about the technology, it’s about community acceptance.”
In 2006, 53 per cent of Perth residents opposed PRW. By 2022, nearly 80 per cent supported it. What changed was the careful engagement and building of trust. Capewell outlined Perth’s blueprint: start with indirect potable reuse (injecting into aquifers before re-extraction), involve regulators like health departments as visible advocates, build demonstration plants to show the process in action, and publish transparent performance data.
He also stressed the importance of messaging. In Perth, leaders consistently returned to six key facts: climate change is drying dams; PRW is part of a broader portfolio; projects utilise indirect reuse; treatment processes are multi-barrier and sophisticated; regulators independently validate safety; and successful examples exist worldwide.
The Beenyup PRW plant, commissioned in 2014 and later expanded to 28 gigalitres per year, now supplies approximately 8 per cent of Perth’s water. Sydney is following suit with its trial at Quakers Hill, using the same model of indirect reuse, regulator partnership and public demonstration.
Capewell’s final message to Victoria was blunt: start before you’re ready. Building community acceptance takes over a decade, and waiting until the crisis hits will be too late. If Victoria wants PRW in place by the 2030s or 2040s, he warned, planning must begin now.