Little did we know: A new plant in Fountain Valley, Ca, the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment System, is filtering the stuff you flush down the toilet and sending it back to the tap (with a few more stops in between).
Yeah, our initial reaction was YUCK. But then we kept reading ...
According to Elizabeth Royte's fascinating article in the New York Times Magazine, filtering sewage and turning it back into potable water -- what fans call "indirect potable reuse" -- is not that crazy of an idea.
The water that comes out the other side of Orange County's treatment facility is actually cleaner than the water in Kraemer Basin, where it is sent to mix with lake water and filter for six months through the sand and gravel before running through Orange County pipes.
As we suffer through drought after drought, recycling water only make sense, according to Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental research group in Oakland.
But there are always two sides to every issue. Read about both of them here ... Then let us know what you think about "indirect potable reuse."
image via NYTimes.com
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As with anything like this, there are risks regarding quality control... the consequences of which are dire, and massive.
If this is the plan, let's hope for the sake of all those people who are to be drinking it, that the acceptable margin for error is zero.
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