Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire California approves wastewater for human consumption

This is a huge desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. I saw it many times from the air during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. CA government is too stupid to invest in them.

And where's that store bought water come from?

How many rocket loads of fresh water have been sent to the International Space Station?

Most wastewater plants discharge treated wastewater into a stream in the lower 48, and downstream is where most of Water Plants get their water for the Water plant.

.

Not even a drop in the bucket…. The few tiny dams they have removed probably didn’t equate to 1/10 of a percent of our water storage….. the real issue is “urban sprawl”….. there are more city people voting for more sub divisions and golf courses and less votes for AG use.

This will shock some of you, but I actually opened up and read the Guardian article!!! Reclaiming Wastewater

It's pretty well written. The idea of reclaiming wastewater for drinking has been around quite awhile. I looked at some of the pilot programs back in the early 80s, including the one north of Denver. The technology is pretty well proven, the big hurdle has been something that the article mentions: "California’s new rules require the wastewater be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water-treatment rules, which require treatment only for known pathogens...".

Trying to prove there are no dangerous viruses is very difficult, almost impossible by lab testing, so you have to use treatment methods that don't let viruses get thru. They give a hint in the article: "In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good – meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process." That usually means either distillation or reverse osmosis. Most likely reverse osmosis since it takes less energy and is less expensive. By the time its finished it probably is closer to pure water than what they pulled out of a well, river or reservoir to begin with.

For those that say why not just desalinate ocean water - it takes around three times as much energy and cost to get drinkable water from seawater as from wastewater. In other words - there are fewer impurities in the water that comes out of a modern sewage treatment plant than what comes out of the ocean.

Yeah - I'm retired now, but a couple of my professional fields were in wastewater management and drinking water supply/treatment systems.

It pays to be at the headwaters

Bad news for you BeanMan, Colorado was the first state to allow this.

From the linked article...

"California would be just the second state to allow this, following Colorado."

This will shock some of you, but I actually opened up and read the Guardian article!!! Reclaiming Wastewater

It's pretty well written. The idea of reclaiming wastewater for drinking has been around quite awhile. I looked at some of the pilot programs back in the early 80s, including the one north of Denver. The technology is pretty well proven, the big hurdle has been something that the article mentions: "California’s new rules require the wastewater be treated for all pathogens and viruses, even if the pathogens and viruses aren’t in the wastewater. That’s different from regular water-treatment rules, which require treatment only for known pathogens...".

Trying to prove there are no dangerous viruses is very difficult, almost impossible by lab testing, so you have to use treatment methods that don't let viruses get thru. They give a hint in the article: "In fact, the treatment is so stringent it removes all the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good – meaning they have to be added back at the end of the process." That usually means either distillation or reverse osmosis. Most likely reverse osmosis since it takes less energy and is less expensive. By the time its finished it probably is closer to pure water than what they pulled out of a well, river or reservoir to begin with.

For those that say why not just desalinate ocean water - it takes around three times as much energy and cost to get drinkable water from seawater as from wastewater. In other words - there are fewer impurities in the water that comes out of a modern sewage treatment plant than what comes out of the ocean.

Yeah - I'm retired now, but a couple of my professional fields were in wastewater management and drinking water supply/treatment systems.

Good.
They are always in need of water, maybe a pipeline from nearby states could be constructed to send them more waste water.

@ funshooter

"... We drink water from streams when we go camping.
Fish ,Deer, Elk and all kinds of other critter piss and crap in those waters. ..."

Ever get a case of "Beaver Fever"?
There is a critter that lives in the intestine of warm blooded animals. Llamblia Giardia! NASTY little bugger that is passed in the feces of, especially, the beaver! Ergo, the name! "Beaver Fever"!
Once ingested, your stomach acid desolves it's calcium coating, releasing the little bugger into YOUR warm gut!
Diarrhea, fever, nausea, etc.....and in extreme cases, death!
But if you hunt, hike, fish, outdoor in the west, you're probably VERY away of this!
If you're NOT aware of Beaver Fever, learn about it before drinking out of a "pure mountain spring"!

....and yeah! I've flopped down on my belly and drank a million (?) gallons out of whatever water source I was near! The resilience of youth and ignorance!