Holy Shemoly! Los Angeles is going to allow treated sewage to be used as drinking water. Yes, the State Water Control Board has regulations that lets millions of gallons of “reclaimed” water to be drunk by LA and Orange County residents.
This is vastly different than the pumping of treated sewage into aquifers and reservoirs, where it is admixed. Besides the dilution affect, the residence time of of the treated sewage affords some additional protections. (This is called indirect potable reuse.)
No, this time we are talking about direct potable reuse. And, there is no environmental buffer (like being able to test a batch of treated water to ensure it meets standards, has no viral infectivity, etc.) The issue is that California has a water supply problem- and indirect potable reuse will only provide 25 to 49% of the local water needs.
https://youtu.be/-FuMhRckbO0
There is additional treatment required for the direct potable reuse. There’s microfiltration, carbon filtration, reverse osmosis, plus UV (ultraviolet) light irradiation and hydrogen peroxide treatment, plus ozonation, The costs for this program will be on the order of a billion dollars. (A facility is to be built in Carson for $ 6 billion, which would make it the largest potable recycling project in the USA.)
The good news? It seems that direct potable reuse won’t be on line for another five years (2028) or so. And, by 2032, the District expects to deliver some 115 MGD (million gallons per day) of purified water.
Scary!
I recently watched a video on a farmer (Midwest) who is losing his business and likely the land, after following a start push to use biosolids on his farm and the resulting contamination ….(whilst big agra farms using the same weren’t shut down) ….
Biosolids are a good concept, Nadya,
I don’t think I’ll be going to California and if I do I’ll bring my own water! When I was growing up, I remember we had a cavitat (probably spelled wrong) and we were told it could filter the waste into clear water and it could be reused. My dad never did that, not even for the garden.
Good idea, Martha.