Brisbane policy makers should take a leap of faith and advocate for advanced water recycling facilities says Philip Anthony, director of the Orange County Water District, who led development of the world’s largest advanced water recycling facility of its kind in Orange County, California.

Mr Anthony, a keynote addressee at the REUSE ’09 and the 12th International Riversymposium conferences held in Brisbane said, “It took courage and vision for leaders to support the Orange County Water District’s water recycling project.

“Many elected officials put their reputations on the line to support the project. Sometimes doing what is right is not the most popular thing to do, but not having enough water would have been a less popular decision with far greater political repercussions.”

The $481 million dollar facility produces 70 million gallons (265 megalitres) of purified sewer water every day. Similar projects were politicised and failed to get approved in nearby Los Angeles and San Diego. Mr Anthony was vital to Orange County’s success in overcoming toilet-to-tap fears and myths and he defied critics by garnering support from every Californian State and US Congressional elected official in the District’s service area.