Interesting info about the waste water recycling system in Vegas. Are they just recycling the gray water? To hit 99%, it would have to be ALL the water. If they dump the processed water back into Lake Mead, they aren’t getting as much dilution as they used to get when the lake was full.
I was working in the power plant at a mine near Rock Springs, Wyoming many decades ago. I was dying of thirst in the construction trailer and drank from the wash basin tap. BIG mistake. After I drank, I saw the hand printed “Not potable” sign. Less than 30 minutes later I was doubled up in my car with the worst cramps I’ve ever had. It passed and I didn’t think much of it until six weeks later in a paper mill in Arizona when it came back with a vengeance, only this time with explosive diarrhea. I had to drive a couple hours to get over to Flagstaff to get a decent medical facility.
Some years later, I got giardia on a backpacking trip in the Sierras, but it was nothing like those earlier episodes.
I developed a new respect for water systems and always carefully search out signs and heed them.
Las Vegas uses a tertiary process on the tail end of their standard sewerage system. This effluent is then used in the purple pipe network most however flows down the Las Vegas Wash directly into Lake Mead up stream from intakes 1,2&3 Lake Mead still has billions of gallons and wind plus wave actions rapidly mix the effluent with lake water. Even then the tertiary treated water could be used directly at the intake of the municipal water treatment plant for potable water in a toilet to tank direct program but the yuck factor is too much for most Americans. Singapore does T to T direct for more than half it’s supply a couple of West Texas cities also do T2T direct the first in the USA. San Antonio does recycle by injection into the Edwards aquifer updip from the potable wells. DFW does similar to Lake Mead effluent from half of the regions sewage plants flows back to the main water source lake Lavon via a constructed wetlands on the Trinity River the other half flows direct from the outfalls on the shore of Lake Lavon where three large sewage treatment plants for three North Texas cities are located. People don’t know or like to think about it but most cities use some form of indirect recycle.effluent that does leave the DFW system flows down the Trinity River system directly to Lake Huntsville Houston’s primary water supply lake so Houston is getting DFW pass through. Austin passes its water to everyone else down stream on the Colorado River in Texas they recycle back to Lake Austin and Travis as well both are water supply lakes.