Getting water-affluent from use of effluent: Tuscon begins to ponder recycled water system
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 28, 2008 at 6:15 amFrom the Tuscon Citizen, an article about how Tuscon is considering a recycled water system, much like what is used in Orange County. From the article:
A similar plant to put treated wastewater in the ground in Avra Valley could close a gap that will emerge in coming decades between Tucson’s demand and supply, said Tucson Water Director David Modeer. “You could offset it all” with treated wastewater, Modeer said. And treated sewage is much cleaner than what most Tucsonans are drinking now - including local groundwater and Colorado River water.
Many Tucsonans, especially in midtown and the near South Side, get the city’s Clearwater blend of Avra Valley ground water and Colorado River water. The river water contains chemically treated wastewater from cities upstream, along with traces of chemicals and drugs that a system such as Orange County’s would remove.
Even Tucson’s most vocal critic of drinking wastewater can’t deny that water processed that way is clean. “Given enough money, you can treat water to make it pure - more pure than what we’re drinking now, for sure,” said John Kromko, a former state legislator who last year spearheaded an effort to ban the use of wastewater in drinking water. “But for what reason? That’s the question.”
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The article also notes:
Though some people are disgusted by the thought of drinking treated effluent, many of us have been drinking it from birth.
In most cities along America’s rivers, wastewater is chemically treated then put back into the rivers to be used as drinking water downstream. The treatment process - perfectly legal - leaves behind traces of chemicals and drugs that eventually wind up in drinking water. Virtually every major waterway in the nation contains treated effluent, Deshmukh said.
Colorado River water - which many Tucsonans are drinking in the city’s Clearwater blend - is recycled this way seven times before it gets to Lake Havasu’s Central Arizona Project intakes, he said.
Read the full text of this article from the Tuscon Citizen by clicking here.
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