When I lived down in Southern California, all the talk was water conservation, even as lawns where being kept green. I come back a few years later and everything is low flow. Special water saver sprinklers water lawns even when there isn’t an official drought, and they are using the same low flow toilets and faucets that are hugely pushed in Northern California.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago I spent a weekend in Atlanta, Georgia and didn’t see one water saving faucet in use; not one low flow toilet or shower head. The lawns where all dead, but true conservation is still somewhat an alien idea it seems. So it was with interest I saw that some water conservation districts are seriously studying the idea of doing water reuse studies.
[...] the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world’s largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth.
The process, called by proponents “indirect potable water reuse” and “toilet to tap” by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities.
The San Diego City Council approved a pilot plan in October to bolster a drinking water reservoir with recycled sewer water. The mayor vetoed the proposal as costly and unlikely to win public acceptance, but the Council will consider overriding it in early December.
Water officials in the San Jose area announced a study of the issue in September, water managers in South Florida approved a plan in November calling for abundant use of recycled wastewater in the coming years in part to help restock drinking water supplies, and planners in Texas are giving it serious consideration.
[Keep Reading at the New York Times]
For Southern California and currently states that are suffering through the water shortage like Georgia, this is something I think they should implement. Technology has progressed enough that its foreseeably safe. Heck it probably IS safer then normal tap water.
Tags: Environment, Interesting, Nature, News, Science, Society
