Americans to Drink More Treated Sewage

Americans to Drink More Treated Sewage - Livescience.com

Recycled water flows into a stream that feeds Virginia's Occoquan Reservoir, Kemsley notes. "In Los Angeles, treated wastewater is added to the Montebello Forebay, where it percolates through the soil to replenish the groundwater supply. Also in California, the Orange County Water District’s (OCWD’s) Water Factory 21 facility reclaims wastewater that is then injected into aquifers to provide a pressurized barrier against seawater intrusion into groundwater."

Earlier this month, California approved operation of the Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF), the largest water reclamation plant in the nation. It will produce 70 million gallons a day of drinkable water from sewage — supplying about 10 percent of the water needed for the district's 2.3 million residents.

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeing greater interest in using treated wastewater to recharge aquifers, the article states. "As water supplies tighten, perhaps more communities will be asked to put their faith in chemistry and accept recycled water into their drinking supply," Kemsley writes.

Besides the actual word water crisis, people in the developed countries should understand the importance of water and not to take clean water for granted. They should prioritize and manage their use of water more efficiently. Stop wasting water for unnecessary use such as for filling up private swimming pool.


On the plus side, they claim the water is as clean as or cleaner than standard tap water.

additional read:

Water Crisis - World Water Council

I think this is absolutely awesome. We need to recycle more wastewater instead of simply discharging it into our septic systems. With recycled wastewater used in your toilet or shower you will need less water for your home. People must get over the idea this it is wastewater. It isn't wastewater. It is much cleaner than the water you swim in in lakes and rivers. Take the time to research the technology involved. Check out www.quanics.net...

Maybe we should all start wearing Stil-Suits like the ones used on Arakis in DUNE. Hey- at least that way you can drink your OWN pi$%. It's kind of like smelling your own farts.....

www.signonsandiego.com...

If I understand this right, they'll be drinking reclaimed sewer water so they can water their desert golf courses with the sweet pure clean water from underground aquifers.

"But golf courses are also to blame: together, they use about 32.5 billion gallons of water a year – most of it groundwater – and some soak the turf with more than 6 million gallons a day during annual reseeding."

I want some serious filtering processes...I only drink bottled water and filtered water these days, never tap water...but since that is recycled sewage water then they need to openly demonstrate the processes that they will use to filter and treat the water they intend to make drinkable. Other than that, sounds like a good idea...

Originally posted by laiguana
I want some serious filtering processes...I only drink bottled water and filtered water these days, never tap water...but since that is recycled sewage water then they need to openly demonstrate the processes that they will use to filter and treat the water they intend to make drinkable. Other than that, sounds like a good idea...

You need to do your research buddy. I could open my own bottled water company tomorrow with water I get from my own tap. You are paying high prices for a pretty bottle and sorry to let you in on the secret.............somebody's tap water. Check to see if the USDA actually has regulations pertaining to bottled water.

Sorry to be so jaded this evening. I've had a bad day.

OMG!! this thread is too funny! Everyone KNOWS their water is recycled!!.... From the 5 year old boy peeing into a stream and wondering what happened to his wee wee right through to the bacteria that live and die simply doing what they do.

It may be an urban myth... but it does illustrate quite well the enormity of our world: I one glass of water thou will take in one part dino pee and one part my wee. Enjoy

if its treated correctly its just water.

reclaimed H2O = spring H20

they just don't filter it and say meh and distribute it.

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Actually, having studied environmental engineering and sanitation engineering (it is part of the Civil engineering curriculum), I can say that yes, the treated water is cleaner than the river that it is dumped into.

Originally posted by Griff
reply to post by Jazzyguy

 

Actually, having studied environmental engineering and sanitation engineering (it is part of the Civil engineering curriculum), I can say that yes, the treated water is cleaner than the river that it is dumped into.

Clean from what? Do riverbanks have the steady flow of chemicals that treated water has? Ive been told by numerous publicly paid health specialists that tell me it is o.k to injest, inject, and inhale, a large variety of chemicals that riverbanks would not settle with. So it is no suprise to me that peer reviewed research would conclude recycled water filtered with all our lovely chemicals that we keep so close to our hearts (pardon the pun,) is better for us than a mountain stream.

didnt we learn our lesson from floride? or are you down with manufacturing byproducts?

Originally posted by arius

Originally posted by laiguana
I want some serious filtering processes...I only drink bottled water and filtered water these days, never tap water...but since that is recycled sewage water then they need to openly demonstrate the processes that they will use to filter and treat the water they intend to make drinkable. Other than that, sounds like a good idea...

You need to do your research buddy. I could open my own bottled water company tomorrow with water I get from my own tap. You are paying high prices for a pretty bottle and sorry to let you in on the secret.............somebody's tap water. Check to see if the USDA actually has regulations pertaining to bottled water.

Sorry to be so jaded this evening. I've had a bad day.

oooooweee! You obviously dont live in the DC metropolitan area! Tap water tastes and smells like Clorox! Mmmmmm! Chlorine! Honestly its disgusting, and I can only stomach bottled water.

I'm pregnant, and the sheer smell of the tap water when I brush my teeth in the morning makes me dry heave and sometimes vomit.

The water has been this way for years, although i think they increased the amount of chlorine which makes it absolutely disgusting. Several friends of mine and I call the tap water "DC Punch". Disgusting!

Do you people realize that there are 2 different processes? There is wastewater treatment (from your house to the plant to the river) and there is water treatment (from the river to the plant to your house).

The water treatment before it goes to the tap is treated in this manner (the use of chlorine etc.) because the river or resevoir that it comes from is extremely dirty.

Now, I've actually been to a wastewater treatment plant up close. I've seen the clean water discharging into the river. It is 100 times clearer than the river water itself.

Now, would I drink it before it is cleaned more in the water treatment process? No.

But, the point I'm trying to make is that water treatment is not as bad as what some are making it out to be.

And yes, I would rather drink water from the water treatment plant than a mountain stream anyday. For one, fish pee and poop in there. Not to mention the bacteria.

Bottled water is treated. Don't let them tell you otherwise. Or we'd have many people getting sick. But, if that is what people prefer, I'm not going to knock them for it.

But, I do agree with others that the tap water needs to be filtered more in a Brita or something. I also live in DC and will not drink from the tap. I have one of those charcoal filters attached to my kitchen sink that I change every few months. So I hear ya on that one.

Originally posted by Griff
And yes, I would rather drink water from the water treatment plant than a mountain stream anyday. For one, fish pee and poop in there.

Not to mention the bacteria.

With 4+ years working for various water boards in the UK (more often than not arm deep in what I was doing!!) I can safely say that I would never drink a glass of water handed to me from the clean water side of a treatment works (it's a psychological thing I seen it from end to end).... But I will drink water straight from my tap - go figure. I will also (and have done frequently) drink from the "pee and poop" infested streams up on Dartmoor, usually puri tabed or boiled, but on occasion as it is. Like I said it's psychological.. Whens the last time a bit of poo killed anyone?

reply to post by Griff


fish poop is what your scared of? omg, thats a little sissy dont you think?

That reminds me of the sign outside the infant play area in the mall that reads " Socks must be worn at all times." Does it really matter? bare feet are unhealthy now?

you will replace the intake of fish poop, and bacteria, with names that most people cant even pronounce.

let nature be your freind... my freind.

Originally posted by tom goose
you will replace the intake of fish poop, and bacteria, with names that most people cant even pronounce.

Name those chemicals please.

Here's something to get you started.

en.wikipedia.org...

Water treatment (drinking water):

Disinfection
Disinfection is accomplished both by filtering out harmful microbes and also by adding disinfectant chemicals in the last step in purifying drinking water. Water is disinfected to kill any pathogens which pass through the filters. Possible pathogens include viruses, bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Campylobacter and Shigella, and protozoans, including G. lamblia and other Cryptosporidia. In most developed countries, public water supplies are required to maintain a residual disinfecting agent throughout the distribution system, in which water may remain for days before reaching the consumer. Following the introduction of any chemical disinfecting agent, the water is usually held in temporary storage - often called a contact tank or clear well to allow the disinfecting action to complete.

en.wikipedia.org...

If you people want to drink those bacteria, be my guest. Me, I'll stick with a little chlorine that gets filtered out of my charcoal filter.

BTW, the fish pee and poop was a joke.

Originally posted by Now_Then
With 4+ years working for various water boards in the UK (more often than not arm deep in what I was doing!!)

I hope you've had your hepititus shots. You probably have, where I was working, all the employees at the plant had to have them. Sad part of it was that I was there testing concrete for their new construction. So, I was close to the "stuff" also, but wasn't required to have them. Don't worry, I don't have it, thank God.

One thing that I will never get out of my head. They dump the sludge into these bins. Well, during the summer, tomatoe plants grow (actually very fast because of what they're grown in). One day, I saw some of the construction workers picking tomatoes and eating them. I was like "Do you guys know what those are growing in?" But, like you say, it's psychological.

I can safely say that I would never drink a glass of water handed to me from the clean water side of a treatment works (it's a psychological thing

I seen it from end to end)....

I don't blame you. I wouldn't either. My professor did though when he took us to the local wastewater plant.

But I will drink water straight from my tap - go figure.

It's a different process that cleans the water further.

I will also (and have done frequently) drink from the "pee and poop" infested streams up on Dartmoor, usually puri tabed or boiled,

Puri tabled or boiled would kill the bacteria. I have also drank myself.

BTW, that is still treating the water.

but on occasion as it is.

I wouldn't recommend this. But, to each his own. I have in the past also, BTW.

Whens the last time a bit of poo killed anyone?

E. Coli? Hepititus?

Last I knew, they can be deadly.

reply to post by Griff


The last one I was attempting to be funny (bad habit of mine, could explain my high job turn over)

About the Hep jabs - I've not had any jabs other then the standard ones as a kid, I have been tested for hep and other things like AIDS twice quite recently due to an odd lingering condition that made my red blood cells look funny under a microscope. But all tests came back negative, I simply stuck to a very varied diet (which I usually try to anyway) ate twice the fruit and veg I used to and that just went away.

I might of had to have jabs it my work was predominately dirty water side, but I assessed clean water loss through leakage on pressurised mains mostly - still plenty of opportunity to admire the massive amount of engineering that has gone into the expedient excrement evacuation that goes on beneath peoples feet every day

Originally posted by Griff

Originally posted by tom goose
you will replace the intake of fish poop, and bacteria, with names that most people cant even pronounce.

Name those chemicals please.

Here's something to get you started.

en.wikipedia.org...

Water treatment (drinking water):

Disinfection
Disinfection is accomplished both by filtering out harmful microbes and also by adding disinfectant chemicals in the last step in purifying drinking water.

en.wikipedia.org...

If you people want to drink those bacteria, be my guest. Me, I'll stick with a little chlorine that gets filtered out of my charcoal filter.

BTW, the fish pee and poop was a joke.

your external source did not even pronounce the chemicals that they add, but they exlained that they are added.


what kind of world do you think you live in? Do you think your ansestors got us this far from guarding ourselves from bacteria? or building defenses inside our own bodies to deal with them?

Where i grew up in northern Alberta (middle of the bush) we had a garden that we got all our vegtibles from, and underwater spring that delivered us all our water. The garden was first a mixture of soil and COW DUNG, and it really stunk believe me. But after a couple of months of seed, that is where ALL our vegtibles came from. Our Underwater spring had a constant flow of algi and other bacteria floating on the top. A simple screen filter at the tip of the pump, to stop the slime from coming in, and the rest was perfectly drinkable.

In those years, i remember haveing to fake being sick just to get a day off school like all the other kids got, when they bought there groceries from the store, and their water was treated.

Be one with nature, stop killing her abilities to protect us by convincing yourself that manufacturing byproducts are good for us. They are not.

Originally posted by tom goose
Our Underwater spring had a constant flow of algi and other bacteria floating on the top. A simple screen filter at the tip of the pump, to stop the slime from coming in, and the rest was perfectly drinkable.

In those years, i remember haveing to fake being sick just to get a day off school like all the other kids got, when they bought there groceries from the store, and their water was treated.

Be one with nature, stop killing her abilities to protect us by convincing yourself that manufacturing byproducts are good for us. They are not.

I can totally agree with were you are comming from. The problem is that a lot of people don't have the luxury of having their own underground spring or well.

But, what water treatment tries to do is use (synthesize) the power of nature to treat the water. Only instead of miles of soil to clean the water, it is put through more of a vigorus process to clean it faster. Some places are even getting "greener".

Did you know that the main part of water treatment uses bacteria to clean the water? Not chemicals.

The chemicals are used to make the dirt in the water settle and to kill the bacteria after it cleans the water.

They really don't throw in umpteen amounts of chemicals.

BTW, when I said I'd drink from a tap instead of a mountain stream, I didn't include underground springs. Why? Because underground is the cleanest you can get. The earth really does a great job of filtering water on its own.

We just help it along the way at the water treatment plant.

reply to post by Griff



Im sure they are doing there best to give us the cleanest water, i dont want to think that folks are purposely harming people by giving them bad water.

I cant imagine a world without fresh water, and i suppose living in canada that is something that we all take for granted. In BC all of our electricity and a percentage of some US states including California, get there electricity from our Hydro dams, we have alot of water.

Some people here truely believe that if the US was ever going to invade Canada, it would be for the water. A crisis that some say is looming within a decade or less.