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Los Angeles mayor considers $1 Billion ‘toilet-to-tap’ plan (recycled potty water)
WaterTechnology ^ | 5/15/08

Posted on 05/15/2008 3:09:23 PM PDT by XR7

LOS ANGELES — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Department of Water and Power are expected to announce on May 15 a revised water use and management plan for this city that includes using recycled wastewater to recharge drinking water aquifers, according to a May 15 Los Angeles Times article.

The new plan allocates about $1 billion for the proposed reclamation system, also known as “toilet-to-tap” or “sewer-to-spigot.” The city would recycle about 4.9 billion gallons of treated wastewater to drinking standards by 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported on May 15.

Villaraigosa, who less than a decade ago opposed such a plan, now is considering using the highly treated wastewater to recharge underground drinking supplies serving the San Fernando Valley, Los Feliz and the Eastside, The Times said.

The long-term proposal is expected to carry a $2 billion total price tag, and impose water-use restrictions on Angelenos. Ratepayers also would be encouraged to upgrade their appliances to those that are water-saving. The Times reported that financial incentives and building code changes would be used to incorporate high-tech conservation equipment in homes and businesses.

The proposed plan has been devised to help the city meet its increasing water demand, which is expected to grow by 15 percent within the next 22 years.

Department of Water and Power General Manager David Nahai said in the article, “This is a radical departure for the city of Los Angeles.”

Nahai said some details of the proposed plan need to be worked out, but in crafting the new plan, the city has looked at its previous water reclamation attempt in the 1990s.

“This is a new day. We have new technology. We’re going to reach out very aggressively to the public and engage them as to the facts,” Nahai said in the article.

The handful of “toilet-to-tap” water recycling operations in the United States typically treat wastewater to at least drinking-water quality before sending it into drinking water supplies.

To read the full Los Angeles Times article, click here.

To read the full Wall Street Journal article, which includes an in-depth look at recycled water, click here.

For related information on this story, click here.



TOPICS: Front Page News; US: California
KEYWORDS: calwaterworks; environment; eww; foodsafety; foodsupply; h2o; hazmat; losangeles; publichealth; publicworks; science; sewer; taxes; utilities; villaraigosa; water
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To: XR7

This is a good idea, and probably inevitable. The Colorado River is about 100% utilized now; there is no more water for growing cities in the southwest.

Desalinization of seawater is also a good idea, but it is currently more expensive than recycling wastewater.


41 posted on 05/15/2008 4:25:31 PM PDT by tvdog12345
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To: All
Did anybody actually read the article? It is injected into the ground and pumped up miles away. Santa Clara County has been doing this for years with water from their reservoirs that contain RAW sewage.
42 posted on 05/15/2008 4:27:03 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Will this thread be jacked by a Mormon?)
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To: XR7

Seems fitting. Los Angeles is now a 3rd World toilet.


43 posted on 05/15/2008 4:29:28 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: XR7

Cities like Milwauki have been doing essentially this same thing since the turn of the last century. The process and technology is proven.

The treated waste water, which is 99.99% pure get pumped into lake Michigan, mixed with the lake water, then the lake water is pumped out and treated for drinking.

The by-product is one of the best fertilizers there is, Milorganite.


44 posted on 05/15/2008 4:32:12 PM PDT by PsyOp (Truth in itself is rarely sufficient to make men act. - Clauswitz, On War, 1832.)
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To: JerseyHighlander

Not to mention AIDS and other virus’ from the human waste.


45 posted on 05/15/2008 4:36:34 PM PDT by dglang
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To: XR7
Image hosted by Photobucket.com and just exactly WHERE... is all the power going to come from to run the damn system???
46 posted on 05/15/2008 4:37:14 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: Ann Archy
There isn’t enough money in the WORLD for me to drink that water unless I’m dying...literally DYING.

Hate to break it to you....

But you've drank water all your life...that's one way or another been consumed before.

47 posted on 05/15/2008 4:39:20 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Molon Labe)
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To: RichInOC
“Honey! This water tastes like s**t!”

It's Fat Bastard's stool sample, Austin!!!

48 posted on 05/15/2008 5:01:17 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Phodopus campbelli: household ruler since July 2007.)
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To: JerseyHighlander

JH, the water industry is now under the complete control of the EPA. We test for hundreds of chemicals, both organic and inorganic, radiologicals, etc., every year. Before the EPA, our system was judged by the Ohio Department of Health to have just about the best water in the state. But when these scare stories get reported, people lose faith. The whole industry is waiting on the EPA to decide just what to do about pharms. Whatever they decide, we will implement. But it could drastically increase the cost of water. About ten years ago, the EPA felt it was reasonable for people to pay about $1.500 a year for water! Yikes!
The PUCO,Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. sets our profits at 10%. And, just like oil, if our costs go up, we have to charge more. But our profits will also increase. 10% of $1,500 is more than 10% of $600!
BTW, I like to warn people to run their water for a bit before drawing a glass to drink or to cook with. Lead and copper seldom come from the water. If the water is a bit acidic, the pb and cu will be leached from the copper pipes, solder, and MOSTLY from the plumbing fixtures in your own house. New fixtures are especially guilty! We add a phosphate product called AquaMag to our water to adjust the ph level.


49 posted on 05/15/2008 5:13:55 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: ConservativeMind
And some people of “knowledge” tell us that drinking rain water is bad, because of contaminates. I still would rather gather my own water. I can see sales of bottle water skyrockiting in CA. Now they were have more problems with all the extra plastic.
50 posted on 05/15/2008 5:31:10 PM PDT by JBCiejka
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra
They need to make medicines that are better absorbed by the body, with much less “pass through” waste.

Wouldn't that cause medicine and by-products to accumulate in the liver and kidneys? Isn't that the problem with many drugs; they simply just can't "pass-through?"

51 posted on 05/15/2008 6:05:44 PM PDT by HoosierHawk
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To: XR7

Bera Whiz Beer- ‘It’s in the water, that’s why it’s yellow!”

Remember that that clear mountain water also has bear, coyote, skunk, nountain lion, etc, etc whiz in it.

W.C. Fields is reported to have said “Water- never touch the stuff- Fish go to the bathroom in it.”


52 posted on 05/15/2008 6:17:48 PM PDT by Wacka
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To: Wacka

Oops!- Bera = Bear


53 posted on 05/15/2008 6:19:08 PM PDT by Wacka
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To: HoosierHawk

You’re correct. But many of these medicines may be better delivered, with less waste products, by a “patch.” Dosage may then be able to be much smaller, but just as effective. I don’t really know. I’m not a real doc despite my bogus user name. My user name comes from a practical joke I played on a friend, so,,,,,


54 posted on 05/15/2008 6:22:41 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ("Don't touch that thing")
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To: mvpel

Exactly. All the water that there is today is all the water that there has ever been.


55 posted on 05/15/2008 6:27:45 PM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: XR7

Looks like he is trying to bring up the potable water standerds according to his home country of filthy mexico


56 posted on 05/15/2008 6:30:14 PM PDT by shadowcat
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To: ops33
Exactly. All the water that there is today is all the water that there has ever been.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh, nope. That's incorrect, I believe.

Every time you burn something you create new water that did not exist.

57 posted on 05/15/2008 6:33:16 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?)
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To: rfp1234
"It's Fat Bastard's stool sample, Austin!!! "

"Hmm... it's a bit nutty."

58 posted on 05/15/2008 6:41:51 PM PDT by mbennett203 ("Bulrog, a tough brute ninja who has dedicated his life to eradicating the world from hippies.")
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To: doug from upland
>Los Angeles is now a 3rd World toilet.

Montezuma's revenge, indeed.

59 posted on 05/15/2008 7:08:37 PM PDT by bill1952 (I will vote for McCain if he resigns his Senate seat before this election.)
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To: mamelukesabre

Really? I didn’t know that.


60 posted on 05/15/2008 7:20:39 PM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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