In rapid time the superpipe provided this city with a supplementary water source. Without it, the water situation in Ballarat would have been utterly desperate over summer. Even with the superpipe residents will still need to continue with the frugal water ways.But the superpipe represents part of a solution to our water supply issues. It should be possible to build up a suite of water supply alternatives which could include reclaiming water for indirect potable use. We are already heading towards using reclaimed water on sports grounds and to help fill Lake Wendouree. Another option as yet unexplored is the capture of stormwater running off the city's roads.And of course there are private household measures such as the installation of rainwater tanks, an option pursued by many residents already.Adding reclaimed water to drinking water supplies has been an unpopular suggestion in some areas. Toowoomba, faced with water shortages, put a decision on drinking treated sewage to the people in a referendum. Before votes were cast a frenzy of antagonism towards the idea was whipped up and from the anti-reclaimed water campaign came the pejorative, Poowoomba.Shortly after that, then Queensland Premier Peter Beatty, noting the result in Toowoomba, promptly said Brisbane would need to have reclaimed water added to potable supplies. No vote was put.These are desperate times but introducing treated sewage to domestic water supplies is not a desperate measure. It's a process that has been occurring in many cities around the world for some time. Londoners drawing from the Thames River are drinking water that has been extracted and returned by several cities upstream.Singapore returns treated water to its supplies.But it is not necessary to look that far afield for examples. It happens along the Murray River.People north of the divide would doubtless be grateful if Ballarat residents were able to reuse the water diverted from the Goulburn catchment, rather than simply drawing more water from the stressed Murray-Darling Basin.It is definitely an option worthy of serious debate.