BERMUDA is wasting a resource that could ease the pressure on the drinking water supply ? sewage.

That is the view of Opposition Senate Leader Kim Swan, who yesterday reiterated his long-held belief that Government should produce a long-term plan to process and extract water from sewage instead of pumping it out to sea.

Sen. Swan said investment in the necessary plant and infrastructure could produce treated affluent suitable for irrigation and toilet flushing.

"We are pumping tons of sewage out to sea that could be recycled and used to relieve the stress on the potable water supply," Sen. Swan said.

"At the moment we are flushing gallons of drinking water down the toilet and we should not be using one drop for that."

Sen. Swan said Bermuda could learn a lesson from desert cities like Dubai, where sewage recycling technology was one of the factors enabling a large and expanding city to be sustained in an arid environment.

"Countries who have a more limited water supply than we do have found solutions," he said. "They make maximum use of what little resources they have.

"Bermuda is supposed to be a sophisticated society, yet the Government has no long-term strategy for our water supply. It's no good waiting for the summer to arrive and then telling the public to take water-conserving measures every year.

"If we are not prepared to make the sort of plans necessary to make best use of what resources we have, we are doing our future generations a disservice.

"Every other year, we are putting money into the Budget to upgrade a system that pumps tons of sewage out off Tobacco Bay and Grape Bay. We should be using those monies to create a system that makes better use of those resources."

Water was not merely a commodity, it was an essential ingredient for life, Sen. Swan said.

"Something as basic and fundamental as water in a society as sophisticated as ours needs that kind of long-term attention," he added.

Government could provide incentives to construction firms and to householders to plug into a recyclable sewage system, using offers of tax credits and interest-free loans, Sen. Swan said.

He added that the instigation of three- to five-year plan now would drastically improve the water situation for future generations of Bermudians.