I am noticing more and more of our cities are considering (and some have moved beyond that- to implementing) the use of reused water for drinking purposes. Before you gag, let’s consider what the technical/scientific issues are- not the political ones.
You do recognize that since Adam and Eve walked on this earth, we’ve been reusing water. The trick is to ensure that the water we reuse is adequate for the intended use.
That’s why a few decades ago, a bunch of folks developed standards for reuse based upon the intended use. The World Health Organization (WHO) had some pretty slick definitions of use and required treatments. The State of California also had standards (many of the same) because reused/recycled water was key to its agricultural businesses. Likewise, the State of Israel has standards. Those regulations also stipulated when the last time crops could be irrigated with reused water to ensure that those humans harvesting the crops would not be at health risk from potentially contaminated water.
That’s kind of how Cycle-Let evolved. It was a home-based water recycling system. But, the only place the water would be used was for flushing toilets. Sure the water was odorless, colorless, and free of pathogens. But, we knew no one would get sick using the water for better purposes. (The reason the water was more pure than necessary to flush toilets is we were worried a dog might be drinking from the toilet…)
For a few years, I went around the world, teaching water system operators, government officials, and corporate executives how to “close the loop”. How to reuse their precious water resources. To treat the water for the desired use- not every use of water required it to be free of bacteria and impurities.
[As an example, in the Negev of Israel, salmon are farmed. The water- high in ammonia and phosphates is then used to irrigate crops (which no longer need fertilizer). And, also to grow pink algae which is used to feed the salmon- which due to the algae don’t need chemical additives to provide the meat the desired pink color.]
And, over the years, places like California began taking treated wastewater and injecting into the ground- to stop the intrusion of sea water into underground aquifers. The other advantage of that practices is that traversing through the soil would help eradicate any viruses present in the water.
But, given the drought that has ensued in SoCal for nearly a decade, there’s been a sea change in attitudes (we are talking politics now) about reusing wastewater for drinking and other potable purposes.(That’s a $ 3.4 billion program right now.) And, not just SoCal- it seems that about 25 communities across the USA will be adding treated wastewater to their potable systems. Moreover, that number is expected to grow to more than 50 by 2040. (The infrastructure bill provides about $ 1 billion to advance such projects in the Western USA. The other infrastructure bill will add some $125 million in grants to promote alternative water sources.)
The good thing is that the treated water isn’t directly feeding into a potable system. It’s recharging a natural water source (groundwater, lake, etc.), admixing with the existing source, before it is treated for drinking purposes.
Folks like me created standards that demanded the water to be held for 7 days so that viral and microbial testing would be complete to ensure the safe character of the reused water. Putting reused water into a lake, where it admixes for a few weeks is another way to protect the users.
And, that’s after much additional treatment. Disinfection processes such as UV (ultraviolet) irradiation [I helped write manuals for this concept back some 25 years ago for the Water Pollution Control Federation (now called the Water Environment Federation)] and ozonation. Membrane processing to ensure trace contamination is removed are also part of the treatment chains.
So, get ready.
Water reuse is coming back into vogue.
But, now it will be part of the water we drink.
Interesting.
As always, you have explored this in-depth.
I found this article important because we do believe it’s good to use our water wisely. Living in our homestead, we collect rainwater, and now have a well, but we’ve become aware of how much water we use since sometimes we are low. I think it’s good to reuse our water. As long as it’s sanitary, as you’ve mentioned.
Thanks for the article.
Laurie
Ridge Haven Homestead
Laurie recently posted..Mixing My Own Past Tense for Migraines
Glad to see you are husbanding your resources. That’s an important factor, Laurie.
Way back when I was young we always were finding ways to save on water. We had rain barrels for watering the garden and horses, we had a shallow dug well and always ran out of water in the summer so we bucketed water from the pond. My grandmother would boil it and use for baths. Ahh the good old days! Years later we had some sort of system (called a cavatet, not sure of spelling) were it was a household sewer treatment system. I don’t rmember what exactly it did but some hoe it turned waste water into useable water.
That Cavitette was a home waste treatment system. It did treat the wastewater- but the uses were primarily for land application- with no humans nearby. Or, to “feed” an underground irrigation system (since the water was cleaner, when it flowed to rivers, lakes, underground aquifers it would not impose deadly hazards).
It was used when septic tanks would be a problem.
Glad you have been water aware.
As resources become more dear and precious we need to make re-use and wise use endemic. Unfortunately, that means we will have to legislate and regulate certain uses: Require developments of more than 5 homes or apartments to include solar panels as part of the build — much cheaper than retrofitting.
Require large buildings and shopping centers or malls in areas outside the desert to include a “grey water” system fed by a passive cistern filled from rainwater. Again, cheap to install compared to later installation.
With our increasing demand per person for electricity and our increased population, both systems are or soon will be quite economic.
Like most people, I hate regulation. I see no near-term alternative.
I see a better system for grey water- to recycle part of the black water (the toilet waste) to meet the needs of grey water. No need to rely on rainwater, applying a more reliable source, and removing the need to purify water beyond the needs of the application.
And, many of our clients employed water reuse (and cascading use) for manifold reasons- shortfalls in supply, avoiding regulation (demands for discharge permits and quality concerns), among others. It’s not always necessary to wait for regulation to impose an order that one may not desire.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Holland, I appreciate it.