Felicity Barringer reports on the growing practice of recycling treated wastewater as drinking water in southwestern cities attempting to address diminishing water supplies.
While treated wastewater has a fifty year history of use for irrigation and industrial uses, its use for tap water is spreading, albeit slowly. Through the lens of San Diego's successes with the practice, "where only 12 years ago the City Council recoiled from the toilet-to-tap concept," Barringer examines whether improved technology and education can overcome the "yuck factor" associated with drinking treated wastewater.
Concerns with scarcity and the results of effective educational and outreach campaigns conspired to change opinions in San Diego.
"The change of heart found voice on the editorial page of The San Diego Union-Tribune, a onetime opponent, in an editorial titled 'The Yuck Factor: Get Over It.' That sentiment was echoed in a cartoon on a California public radio blog depicting a dog with its nose in a toilet.
The caption? 'Ten million dogs can't be wrong.'"
FULL STORY: As ‘Yuck Factor’ Subsides, Treated Wastewater Flows From Taps
San Diego Launches Massive Sewage Treatment Project
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Mayor Kevin Faulconer sees San Diego's Pure Water Program as proof of concept for other cities with uncertain water supplies. By 2035, the initiative aims to derive one-third of the city's supply from recycled wastewater.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
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Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
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MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
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Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
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