Los Angeles Eyes Sewage as a Source of Water

[depakid]

Faced with a persistent drought and the threat of tighter water supplies, Los Angeles plans to begin using heavily cleansed sewage to increase drinking water supplies, joining a growing number of cities considering similar measures.

Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, who opposed such a plan a decade ago over safety concerns, announced the proposal on Thursday as part of a package of initiatives to put the city, the nation’s second largest, on a stricter water budget. The other plans include increasing fines for watering lawns during restricted times, tapping into and cleaning more groundwater, and encouraging businesses and residents to use more efficient sprinklers and plumbing fixtures.

The move comes as California braces for the possibility of the most severe water shortages in decades.

Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada, which supplies about a third of Los Angeles’s water, is short of expectations. At the same time, the Western drought has lowered supplies in reservoirs, while legal rulings to protect endangered species will curtail water deliveries from Northern California.

“There simply are no more holes or straws to pitch,” Mr. Villaraigosa said at a news conference at a water plant.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/us/16water.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is already being done, and very successfully...

In another community here in SoCal...

I don't recall which one, though...

The water is very thoroughly filtered, cleaned, et cetera, through many different processes...

There is plenty of water to go around in this particular community...

I wish I could remember which town, though...

This is definitely the way to conserve water safely...

[NNadir]

2. San Diego. It's done in San Diego. It's cheaper and safer than desalination.

The safety part comes from the external cost of the energy used to purify the water.

One needs less energy to purify sewage than one needs to purify seawater.

Most reservoirs in the US are downstream from a few sewage outfall pipes. The problem is aesthetic and not practical.

As for purification schemes, there is a lot to be said for ozonolysis, which will help solve other environmental problems not directly linked to water purification itself.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. I was thinking it was San Diego...

But there's another town down there that has refused to even consider doing this...

Oh well, I couldn't remember!

Thanks for the memory boost...

[tinrobot]

3. I believe Phoenix does it.

At least they did it in the 1960's when my grade school class toured the plant.

That was the stinkiest field trip ever.

[NNadir]

6. Phoenix uses its sewage effluent to run the cooling towers at the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.

Here's a photograph of the system:



&imgrefurl=http://www.nucleartourist.com/us/pvngs.htm&h=193&w=600&sz=91&hl=en&start=35&um=1&tbnid=wGvw7kRebd0YBM:&tbnh=43&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPalo%2BVerde%2BNuclear%2BPlant%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN">Palo Verde.

I have written on this powerplant elsewhere, in a diary entitled: This Power Plant Produces More Energy Than the Nation of Cameroon.[br />

[pop goes the weasel]

5. only stupidity prevents people from recycling water

Every community that draws its water from a surface source is using waste water to start with. Do people think that upstream residents don't crap or wash chemicals down the sink?

[Greyskye]

7. Given the taste of LA water now, I thought it already was.

:shrug:

[Doug.Goodall]

8. Ever watch Man -vs- Wild?

Bear Grylls Drinks his own Urine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEIYNvwXD0Q

With uncontrolled population growth in southern California, you can too.