© Reuters / Lucy NicholsonA man fills a tank with water at the local fire station, in East Porterville, California
Potable water reuse - or converting sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water - is receiving renewed attention in California in the midst of the state's four-year drought.
According to a
report by the
Los Angeles Times, "California water managers and environmentalists"are pushing the idea of recycled sewage water. Yet past efforts in the state to employ similar systems have stalled, as opponents have dubbed the concept "toilet to tap."
This spring, California Gov. Jerry Brown
ordered a 25 percent cut in urban water usage based on ongoing drought conditions across the state.
Proponents of potable water reuse say that the system could convert the hundreds of billions of gallons of treated sewage that is already directed into the Pacific Ocean into drinking water.
"That water is discharged into the ocean and lost forever," Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, told the
LA Times. "Yet it's probably the single largest source of water supply for California over the next quarter-century."
A potable reuse system would mean effluent would be sent to an advanced treatment plant for a three-step purification process.
Comment: Back to reality! What happened to the "new, open, equal society" and "social revolution" that followed the recent historic, euphoric referendum on same-sex marriage in Ireland?
For more insight on this "milestone in Ireland's journey towards a more liberal, secular society", listen to: Behind the Headlines on SOTT Radio Network: gay marriage means equal rights as global society descends into chaos