Purified sewer water for Orange County drinking

[shesulsa]

The Orange County Register

FOUNTAIN VALLEY – About the middle of next month, a $480 million treatment system will begin converting sewer water to ultra-pure drinking water by the tens of millions of gallons per day.


Called the Groundwater Replenishment System, it is said to be the largest system of its kind in the world, and has attracted worldwide attention.
Its creators, the Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District, have managed to overcome public squeamishness, concerns about high costs, and the technical challenges that accompany any effort to remove or destroy virtually anything harmful from water piped into the system from a nearby sewage treatment plant.


"The only other place in the world where they have a comparable plant is in Singapore," Denis Bilodeau, a member of the Water District's board of directors, said Wednesday. "It's maybe a third of the size. And they just built it. They built it emulating ours."

FULL ARTICLE

Lordy. I dunno how I feel about this. The logic appears to be in place, but I just don't know. I used to live in Fountain Valley and the water there sucked *then.*

Any OC'ers here wanna comment?

 

[14 Kempo]

FULL ARTICLE

Lordy. I dunno how I feel about this. The logic appears to be in place, but I just don't know. I used to live in Fountain Valley and the water there sucked *then.*

Any OC'ers here wanna comment?

Yuck ... LOL ... I was Orange County, born and raised, but live in San Diego now. What it comes down to for me is the fact that I don't drink tap water anyway and haven't for quite some time. The water is probably more pure than the current drinking water, but the thought of it ... well, like I started the paragraph ... yuck.

 

[Blindside]

Water is water, given that southern California is a desert and is using way over its appropriated water rights on the Colorado, they don't have much choice. Remember that most of their water sources are purified from waters plentiful in fish, wildlife, and livestock crap, so this really isn't that much of a stretch. The other choice is to depopulate Southern Cali or get heavily into desalinization.

Lamont

 

[BrandiJo]

Its purified so well that nothing can possibly survive to hurt you. So if it saves money and is better over all then why not?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

If I was concerned, I'd buy a good in-home filter/light system/Oxygenator to set myself at ease, but as long as they get out all the non-water, it should be fine. All water comes from a source with crap in it to start anyway...see water...fish, function in it. So if you've ever gotten water in our mouth at the beach....you drank fish poo. LOL!

 

[Big Don]

Knowing it is purified and not being grossed out by where it came from are two totally different things.

 

[shesulsa]

Knowing it is purified and not being grossed out by where it came from are two totally different things.

Exactly! Like I said, the logic and science are there it's just a matter of not getting nauseated when you approach the water faucet.

And anyone who's ever lived in The OC and won't admit to the tap water smelling like sewer water already ... is either lying or extremely rich.

 

[CoryKS]

Well, I guess it's okay. As long as it's not too... pulpy.

 

[Big Don]

Well, I guess it's okay. As long as it's not too... pulpy.

That was just wrong

 

[Tames D]

If I was concerned, I'd buy a good in-home filter/light system/Oxygenator to set myself at ease, but as long as they get out all the non-water, it should be fine. All water comes from a source with crap in it to start anyway...see water...fish, function in it. So if you've ever gotten water in our mouth at the beach....you drank fish poo. LOL!

Well I've spent alot of time in the water at the beach. That must explain why I'm so full of ****.

 

[tellner]

It all goes around. As long as it's clean H2O without poisons or pathogens don't worry. Pure mountain spring water contains molecules that were sewage a cycle or two ago. And as Blindside points out the choice may be recycle and reuse or abandon SoCal.

Puts me in mind of a poem from the Wretched Mess Calendar circa 1976:

Grows the grass from out the ground
Merrily it grows
The grass is eaten by the sheep
And so the cycle goes

The sheep is eaten by the man
The man lays down and dies
They throw his carcass in the ground
And everybody cries

The man he turns into the soil
And nourishes the grass
The grass is eaten by the sheep
And so it comes to pass

That sheep eventually excrete
Tom and Jack and Jill
So never kick the dung of sheep
It might be Uncle Bill
​

 

[shesulsa]

Yeah, yeah ... one of those "circle of life" kind of things. It's just that ... well, almost whenever we try to emulate a natural process it comes around to kick us in the butt later.

 

[elder999]

Anyone who's ever gone on a cruise for vacation that lasted more than a weekend has had drinking water just like this served at dinner.

Which explains why I stick to tequila!

 

[theletch1]

Anyone who's ever gone on a cruise for vacation that lasted more than a weekend has had drinking water just like this served at dinner.

Which explains why I stick to tequila!

Ya better hope the gusano in the bottom of the bottle was dead when they dropped it in or else you're drinking worm pooh! Of course by the time you get to the worm you really wouldn't care, would you.

 

[TheOriginalName]

Just thought i would drop in my 2 cents on this.....

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. We have been in a state of drought for the past 10 years or so. Water is a big issue as you could imagine. There is no more running around under the sprinkler for kids or even washing your car on the weekend - that is how tight our water restrictions have to be.

Recycled water - BRING IT ON!!
Water is recycled anyway - every drop of water on the planet has at some stage been another animals waste.....not a nice thought but it's the scientific proof.
Also drinking water comes from dams. Dams that fish live in - animals drink from - and waste makes it's way into by natural means. That is why water is treated and purified before it gets anywhere near your tap.

Also, think of those up on the space station. They constantly recycle their waste water.

The biggest problem is the taboo......it's just not a nice thought. I think we as a world wide society need to push past that.......

Anyway - just my thoughts on the subject.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Just thought i would drop in my 2 cents on this.....

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. We have been in a state of drought for the past 10 years or so. Water is a big issue as you could imagine. There is no more running around under the sprinkler for kids or even washing your car on the weekend - that is how tight our water restrictions have to be.

Recycled water - BRING IT ON!!
Water is recycled anyway - every drop of water on the planet has at some stage been another animals waste.....not a nice thought but it's the scientific proof.
Also drinking water comes from dams. Dams that fish live in - animals drink from - and waste makes it's way into by natural means. That is why water is treated and purified before it gets anywhere near your tap.

Also, think of those up on the space station. They constantly recycle their waste water.

The biggest problem is the taboo......it's just not a nice thought. I think we as a world wide society need to push past that.......

Anyway - just my thoughts on the subject.

This has been hovering around here in Australia for a while now, especially in those states hardest hit by the drought.

I say good on VicWater for going ahead with their plan to have 20% of Melbourne's drinking water come from recycled water.

Its tough to get past that perception though isn't it? The town of Toowomba in Queensland was suffering so badly from the drought that its dams were down to less than 25% of capacity. A proposal was put forward to have 25% of the town's drinking water come from recycled effluent. This water would have been purer than that coming out of the dam, but a very vocal minority had the plan thrown out on the grounds that it was, I don't know, disgusting or something (mostly older people I noticed). They effectively voted to have their town die rather than drink toilet water. I hope it doesn't come to that.