California (Washington Insider Magazine)— California became the second U.S. state to authorise companies to purify wastewater. It will allow turning it into drinking water to accommodate drought situations. On Tuesday, California officeholders voted to permit wastewater from bathrooms to be purified into drinking water. The state faced drought-induced water depletion for years. San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Clara officials are already preparing to build water purification systems. It could provide drinking water to hundreds of thousands of households.
Many localities in the arid West already use treated wastewater for outdoor irrigation. Further, they use it to refill underground aquifers, where water is purified as it percolates through the ground. However, providing purified treated wastewater directly to households has long worked to overcome a water shortage t in California. Opponents criticised the process as “toilet to tap” in the 1990s when recommendations emerged in Los Angeles.
In recent decades, advancements in water purification technology have emerged. Meanwhile, public resistance has eased as climate change has weakened and disrupted the water supply in California. It is the nation’s most populated state.
“This is an exciting development in the state’s ongoing efforts to find innovative solutions to the challenges of extreme weather driven by climate change,” said E. Joaquin Esquivel, the chair of the water resources board. He added that “these regulations ensure that the water produced is safe, but purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on.”
California hosts More than 39 million people. The population’s demand for water is high. Sustaining water for the nation’s largest agriculture industry is also crucial. However, the past year’s fierce winter storms saturated much of the state. California had been facing a severe drought that scientists expressed. It included the most waterless three-year period on record. The motivation to use every drop in the state’s aquifers, rivers and reservoirs has only increased under the coercion of climate change.
For more than a decade, Water regulators spent designing the rules on wastewater recycling. They also had met a Dec. 31 deadline under a state legislative order. The unanimous vote followed years of assessment. It includes an evaluation by a dozen scientists, experts and engineers.
The newly approved system allows recycled wastewater to be purified into drinking standards. According to state officials, “the process will happen in a matter of hours and be pumped directly back into pipelines that supply homes, schools and businesses with drinking water.” The new regulations do not need water agencies to adopt direct drinkable water purifying systems. However, it will permit those ready to finance the necessary infrastructure. Companies will propose plans for state approval after the rules are finalised next year.
On Tuesday, Mr Esquivel observed that citizens who live downstream from bigger cities already depend on some water that has been treated and returned to rivers. Felicia Marcus, a longtime water policy expert in California and Mr Esquivel’s predecessor as board chair, noted that water-scarce areas. For example, Africa and the International Space Station, already recycle their wastewater. She called the vote a “historic milestone for climate resilience.” “Right now, we are sending rivers of highly treated wastewater to the ocean at a time when both our Colorado River supplies and Sierra supplies are likely going to be subject to more frequent and drier droughts,” she said.
Ms Marcus expressed two water recycling schemes in Southern California will be among the world’s largest when finished. She stated that one measure in Los Angeles will be able to provide up to 30% of the city’s water. “Today’s landmark approval is a real breakthrough,” said Sean Bothwell, executive director for California Coastkeeper Alliance. “It’s time for us to stop the practice of using water once and throwing it away.”
The concept of recycling wastewater into drinking water is not new. One of the driest countries in Africa, Namibia, is already utilising this method. According to the city’s plant, Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, was the first city in the world to develope wastewater recycling more than 30 years ago. Another example of recycling water is Singapore. They have established an extensive filtration system that can purify nearly 238 million gallons of water daily. It would be sufficient to fill 350 Olympic swimming pools.
