Turning sewage into drinking water gains appeal as drought lingers

The LA Times reports.

California is facing a fourth year of drought, with aquifers and reservoirs drying up, and experts are proposing a solution: direct potable reuse. This technology has the potential to ease the state’s water crisis, but it is met with resistance due to the “yuck factor”. Water managers and environmentalists are urging Californians to embrace this policy, in order to protect them from the unpredictable effects of nature.

The concept of direct potable reuse has been used for decades in Windhoek, Namibia, where evaporation rates exceed annual rainfall, and more recently in Texas cities such as Big Spring and Wichita Falls, which have been affected by drought. This process involves taking treated sewage effluent and purifying it so it can be used as drinking water, as opposed to non-potable reuse, which involves using treated sewage to irrigate crops, parks or golf courses. However, plans for similar projects in California have been met with strong opposition.

In 2000, opponents of Los Angeles proposed a plan to filter purified sewage water into an underground reservoir, a technique called indirect potable reuse. This plan was met with derision, as opponents coined the phrase “toilet to tap”. A San Diego editorial cartoonist further highlighted the debate by drawing a dog drinking from a toilet bowl while a man ordered the canine to “Move over…”.

 Now, with California facing an unprecedented 25% cut in urban water usage due to drought, proponents of direct potable reuse say the time has come for Californians to accept this partial solution to their water insecurity. By capturing and cleaning effluent that is currently being flushed into the Pacific Ocean each year, coastal cities such as Los Angeles can convert it to drinking water.

Read the full story at The Los Angeles Times.

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