Gut Feelings on Water Quality   Wednesday February 24, 1999, 7-9pm Science in the Pub starts its 1999 Sydney season with a look at the problems of water quality that set up a few ripples of anxiety among Sydney's water consumers last year. Our presenters are the former Chief Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Bob Wilson and Executive Director of the Australian Water and Wastewater Association, Mr Chris Davis. Chris Davis studied civil engineering in an era when that mainly meant structures, soil mechanics and the like. When working in the Johannesburg City Council, designing buildings, he was press-ganged by an eccentric, senior engineer to go on a `shit-walk'. This involved donning shorts and sandshoes and walking down a main sewer at 5am, before the major flow came down. This, and other interesting exposures to water pollution control, made Chris realise that water was the most exciting aspect of engineering. He's worked in water ever since, but has not crawled down a sewer for some years now. Since 1992 Chris has been the Executive Director of the Australian Water and Wastewater Association, our major water interest association. Chris's abstract is in traditional Science in the Pub verse: On Giardiasis: In days of old, when knights were bold And people were much hardier, No dreadful ills attacked the Jills Who ingested a dose of Giardia. with apologies to the anonymous author who penned: In days of old when knights were bold And suits were made of tin, No piercing cry escaped the guy Who sat upon a pin. and on a suggestion about potable reuse of effluent There was an old man from Vaucluse Encouraged to try water reuse Just said, with a shudder, 'Well I'm an old bugger But I'm dammed if I'll drink any piss!' Bob Wilson has spent most of his working life in the water industry. He is a qualified accountant and computer specialist, but his experience is in natural resources management. Bob reached senior positions in the Water Board in the late 1970s. With these positions came a responsibility for water supply catchment integrity and a concern about the lack of treatment capacity within the Sydney water supply system. In the period 1985-1987, Bob was appointed, first as Secretary of Lands and Registrar General and second as Chief commissioner for Water Resources. This broadened his experience in catchment management and water quality. It was under his leadership that Water Resources developed the NSW Wetlands Policy and the Salt Action Program. On his return to the Water Board as Managing Director, he introduced the Drinking Water Quality Program and the Water Resources Program to ensure the long-term viability of the quality and quantity of Sydney's water supply. Bob left the Water Board in 1993 amidst the disputes between the board of the Water Board and the government over the use of funds committed to these and the Clean Waterways program. Bob is currently completing an Arts degree at the University of Sydney, is chairman of Greenpeace Australia, a member of the board of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and a consultant on environmental and strategic matters. He gives us the following poem: The Destruction of Confidence (with apologies to George Gordon, Lord Byron) The Economists came down like wolves on the fold And their cohorts' eyes gleamed with the lust for gold; Their policies were shaped to meet next week's bills, And they cared nothing to hold back water-borne ills. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, That host with their ideas at parliament were seen; Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host after the storm lay withered and strown. For the Angel of Crypto spread its wings on the flood, And sped through the system mixed with giardia and mud; And the guts of the thirsty reacted not at all, But pollies and press set up a hideous bawl. And the prophets of Econ are silent at last, And their idols are broke in the Temple of Parl; At last the water folk are called upon to start, To repair confidence and schemes all torn apart.   `Science in the Pub'(TM) is an initiative of the Australian Science Communicators (NSW) and supported by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. It is staged from 7.00-9.00 pm on the last Wednesday of the month (Feb - Nov) at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel (also known as the Harlequin Bar), 152 Harris Street, Pyrmont, 2009. (Telephone (02) 9660 8146. UBD Map ref pg235 P10.) Dinner is available from the Thai restaurant attached to the pub. Parking is difficult-best at the Casino. SciPub has received two grants from the Science and Technology Awareness Program (an initiative of the Department of Industry, Science, Tourism), the most recent of which will be used for presenting Science in Your Pub during National Science Week 1999 in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. For further information on `Science in the Pub' please contact Robyn Stutchbury on rstutch@ozemail.com.au of Peripatus Productions Pty Limited, 1 Carisbrook Street, Lane Cove 2066, Tel: 02 9427 6747, Fax: 02 9418 9605 Next Science in the Pub session, Wednesday 31 March SciPub XV: `Views of the Universe: Astronomy and Culture' with astronomers Fred Watson and David Malin of the Anglo Australian Observatory, and possibly Fred's guitar...
Science in the Pub™, © 2000. Stutchbury, R, Burton, M.