Keeping his family healthy and hydrated is one of Samuel Little’s greatest challenges. The father-of-five spends about $20 a week on bottled water, but his children in Cherbourg, an Aboriginal community three hours north-west of Brisbane, are still regularly forced to miss school due to illnesses caused by the town’s water supply. The afflictions include skin rashes and diarrhoea.
“Every six months or so, there’s a bug going around the house,” Mr. Little said. “Even getting to school to have that basic education becomes a struggle due to their health concerns.”
For much of the past month, Cherbourg residents have had to boil water before drinking it or using it for baby formula. Torrential rain carrying bacteria-laden topsoil from surrounding farms and septic tanks washed into the narrow creek that serves as the community’s water supply. The 65-year-old water treatment plant was overwhelmed, causing dirty, unfiltered water to flow directly into the kitchen sinks and bathtubs of the town’s 1,500 residents.
Infrastructure Challenges and Health Impacts
Most Australians would be unfamiliar with having to boil water, but in Cherbourg, it has been a regular occurrence for at least three years. The water treatment plant was built when the community was still a government-controlled Aboriginal reserve. Despite the state and federal governments announcing $26 million for a replacement 18 months ago, construction has yet to begin.
Mark Nuttall from the Cherbourg Regional Aboriginal & Islander Community Controlled Health Service highlighted that it’s not only bacteria in the water supply making residents sick. Locals have also been consuming excessive amounts of soft drinks to avoid the town water, leading to gastrointestinal problems and diabetes linked to poor water quality.
Dr. Nuttall treats patients of all ages daily, including babies fed with formula made from contaminated water. While most councils rely on property rates to fund infrastructure upgrades, Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council does not receive any rates because it owns most properties in the town.
“We should not [have to] go to this kind of extreme level when we ask for something,” said Council CEO Chatur Zala, referring to the prolonged wait for the new treatment plant.
A spokesperson for Water Minister Ann Leahy stated that the design of the new water treatment plant is nearly complete and will soon go to tender. Construction is expected to begin early this year, with the plant due to be operational by the end of the year.
Turning to Emerging Technology
In the face of these challenges, Cherbourg has turned to emerging technology capable of extracting clean water from air. Atmospheric water generation (AWG) uses a dehumidifier to capture moisture, which is then cooled into a liquid state, filtered, and dispensed as drinking water from a cooler. More than 20 coolers have been installed in Cherbourg, including at the health clinic, daycare centre, high school, aged care home, and council office.
Gundoo Daycare chair Elvie Sandow and director Rhianon Insch-Watkins reported that children are experiencing significantly fewer gastro and flu-like symptoms since the new AWG coolers arrived. Australian researchers are at the forefront of efforts to adopt AWG technology to tackle global water challenges. According to the World Health Organisation, 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water.
Innovations and Limitations
University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have developed a new material for atmospheric water generation. This material, a combination of graphene oxide and calcium, absorbs about eight times more water than silica gel, commonly used in clothing desiccants. Professor Rakesh Joshi and his team are in discussions with companies to use it in remote communities in Australia and overseas.
Professor Joshi noted, “AWG has limitations. It cannot completely replace a conventional water supply. Heating moisture into vapour requires a significant amount of power, though the cost is typically reduced using solar energy.”
Research assistant Xiaojun Ren expressed optimism about recent advances in AWG technology. “I think it will be a really, really helpful technology with these efforts from all around the world,” he said.
The situation in Cherbourg underscores the urgent need for both immediate solutions and long-term infrastructure improvements. As the community awaits the new water treatment plant, the adoption of innovative technologies like AWG offers a glimpse of hope and resilience in the face of ongoing challenges.
