San Diego Learns How to Recycle Water

Above: San Diego's North City Water Reclamation Plant (NCWRP) is the first large-scale water reclamation plant in San Diego's history and part of the single largest sewerage system expansion in the area. This facility can treat up to 30 million gallons of wastewater per day, which is generated by northern San Diego communities.

SAN DIEGO — The ultimate solution to California's water dilemma will draw on many sources. And one of them will be the supply of water we currently throw away. The water that goes down the drain, and down the toilet, can be reused. But finding the best way for San Diego to recycle is a technical and political question.

Recycling wastewater is nothing new. It's common and often unavoidable. Alan Rimer is a water reuse specialist with the firm Black and Veatch. He says wastewater reuse has taken many forms.

"I grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania," he says. "And when I flushed my toilet, it went into the Ohio River with some treatment, and Cincinnati drank that water after taking it out of riverbank wells and treating it. And that's what we call indirect potable reuse."

To water reuse experts, San Diego is famous for the expression "toilet to tap." It arose about ten years ago when the city's first effort to reuse wastewater as potable water did a political crash and burn. But the reality of today's water shortage has put wastewater recycling back on the table. That's why San Diego is embarking on a plan to test a system for "reservoir augmentation." Wastewater will be purified to an advanced level so it could be piped to the San Vicente Resevoir, where it would become part of San Diego's supply of drinking water.

Marsi Steirer, with the San Diego Public Utilities Department, says, for now, the goal is test some new equipment at the North City Water Reclamation Plant.

"Basically what we're constructing as a temporary plant is a one million gallon a day advanced water treatment facility," she says.

The north city plant currently treats about nine million gallons of wastewater every day that's reused, mainly for irrigation. This kind of reuse requires a dual delivery system, since the North City plant doesn't currently treat its recycled water to the level of drinking water. The non-potable water flows through purple pipes to golf courses, parks and freeway medians. But the North City plant recycles less than half of what it could, due to a very limited distribution system.

Mixing highly treated wastewater with a city's drinking water supply, reservoir augmentation, is what they already do in part of Northern Virginia. Chuck Boepple is executive director of the Upper Occoquan service authority. He says his plant's wastewater is treated and discharged into the historic creek called Bull Run. That leads to a reservoir that provides drinking water for a million people in suburban Washington D.C. Boepple adds the water he puts in Bull Run is very clean.

"Our effluent, as a matter of fact, meets drinking water standards. Every parameter that EPA has on maximum contaminant levels for drinking water… we're beneath those levels," he says.

So why does Occoquan put safe drinking water in the reservoir where it'll just get dirty and need to be treated again? Beopple says doing a system where water really goes straight from toilet and tub to treatment to tap is still unacceptable to the public. Maybe so. But the water San Diego draws from the Colorado River contains lightly treated wastewater Las Vegas dumps into Lake Mead. Some say that the water people in New Orleans drink, that comes from the Mississippi River, has already been through about nine sets of human intestines.

Rick Gersberg is a public health professor at San Diego state, and he's on an advisory task force for the San Diego water recycling project. He says scientists can talk all they want to about actual health risks of recycled, drinking water. But what the public perceives as sanitary, is just as meaningful.

"Maybe a scientist would say 'Well, you know, risk is just the numbers we calculate.' But if you're dealing with risk and you're expecting to communicate and inform and have acceptance of a certain project, then that strictly science opinion is not the way it happens," says Gersberg.

Reusing wastewater has a political price and it has a monetary price. If the San Diego water recycling project becomes reservoir augmentation, it'll require a permanent treatment facility and a pipeline. The total cost would be at least $237 million.

How Far Would You Go to Save Water?

Water shortages across the US have prompted me to re-examine the water usage in my own home. My findings? While we are doing a lot of things right (low-flow showerhead, utilizing grey water, no lawn watering, etc.) there are still a lot of things that we could be doing to save water and money.

Of particular concern to me is the amount of water that our toilets are using. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to cut that number (and I'm not just talking about the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" rule or the brick in the back of the toilet trick. Check out some of these modern solutions to the water waste problem:

• Low-Flow Toilet
Uses 1.6 gallons per flush instead of as many as 7
• Dual-Flush Toilet
Allows you to choose between a 1.6 gallon flush and a .8 gallon flush
• Flushless Toilet
Uses no water; waste is composted in a holding tank
• The Frugal Flush Flapper
Cuts the water use in high volume toilets (3.6 gallon and above) in half. Only costs $5
• Fill Cycle Diverter
Saves a half gallon per flush by ensuring that the tank and bowl fill at the same (or close to the same) rate

So, I have to ask, how far are you willing to go to save water and ultimately your hard earned dollars? Could you go flushless? Dual flush? Are you already using some of the technology that I mentioned? Share your answer!

Making every drop count

Recycling across Australia

Wastewater has been recycled and used in Australian towns and cities for decades, but usually for watering recreational facilities such as parks and golf courses.

However, a recent proposal for one drought-stricken Australian community to recycle sewage and use it to top up drinking supplies has left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths.

In a referendum, residents of the city of Toowoomba in south-east Queensland rejected a scheme to recycle sewage to top up drinking supplies.

The issue divided the small community and roused passions, but it also highlights a major issue facing all Australians. A drying climate due to global warming and a growing population has created the need to find and adopt innovative, sustainable methods to slake our thirst for water.

Overcoming the 'yuk factor'

Researchers and water authorities in Australia say there's no scientific or health reason that recycled wastewater can't be safely used as part of drinking water supplies if treated properly.

But there can be a formidable psychological reason. It's called the 'yuk factor' - based on the thinking that the water in the glass in your hand might have started off in someone's toilet bowl. But should we be worried?

Overseas, it's not unusual for treated wastewater to be part of drinking supplies. The city of London is located downstream from numerous wastewater recycling plants that discharge into the Thames river. Which is why there's a common saying that when you drink a glass of water in London, the water has already passed through several pairs of kidneys.

And recycled wastewater is successfully used to top up drinking water supplies in Namibia, the United States and Singapore.

Many informal 'taste and tell' surveys reveal that most people can't tell the difference between tap water, bottled water and recycled water. So why the fuss? Well, that's what some residents of Toowoomba, in south-east Queensland, and Goulburn, in New South Wales, are thinking.

A tale of two cities

Both Toowoomba and Goulburn were planning to introduce schemes to recycle sewage into drinking water supplies to help their communities overcome chronic water shortages due to drought and long-term, below-average rainfalls.

Toowoomba would have been the first city in Australia to use recycled sewage for drinking water, with its proposal for a new $68 million wastewater treatment plant to top up potable water supplies at Cooby Dam. The Goulburn proposal - which is still being considered - involves building a new wastewater plant as part of a $32 million project to recycle effluent and return it to the Sooley Dam catchment.

But recycling effluent for drinking is an emotive issue. In Toowoomba, a group of concerned citizens collected some 10,000 signatures for a petition opposing the project. That's despite advocates of the proposal saying their recycled wastewater will be so pure it could be used for hospital purposes such as kidney dialysis.

Backers of both proposals also point out recycling is part of much wider water saving strategies that are feasible, sustainable, and necessary - and that they can help drought-proof their communities for decades to come.

How to make wastewater drinkable

There are a number of ways in which to purify water - including sewage water, groundwater or seawater - to obtain drinking water. Methods include distillation, freezing, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis or ion exchange. Each method has advantages and disadvantages, and the method chosen depends on the scale, location, source of water, cost and available energy sources.

Treating wastewater to make it suitable to add to drinking supplies often involves the reverse osmosis process, along with other purification treatments.

In Toowoomba, for example, the wastewater would have been treated using ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection and oxidation processes to destroy microorganisms.

During reverse osmosis, water is forced under pressure through very fine membranes which allow water molecules to pass through, but not salts and other matter. The technology is already used around the world to provide water for industrial purposes and drinking water on ships, and there are plans to use it on spaceships.

Using a process called ‘indirect potable reuse’, the recycled wastewater would then top up existing drinking water supplies to be stored at the nearby dam and then undergo conventional water treatments. It would then become part of residents’ daily drinking supplies.

But there are two common concerns with such water purification projects. Firstly, they require considerable amounts of energy. Secondly, there are environmental concerns about what to do with the concentrated salty waste water that is made during the process.

The big picture

Residents of Toowoomba have voted against their wastewater scheme, but the issue is now being looked at on a much wider scale. The publicity involving the Toowoomba poll has helped put the spotlight on other Australia-wide initiatives to quench our growing thirst for water.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent and climate change resulting in below average rainfall and extensive droughts have prompted the search for new, innovative and sustainable water supplies, and ways to curb demand.

Growing demand from agriculture, industry and a growing population, have exacerbated the problem. According to national State of Environment reports, industry and householders are using increasing amounts of water.

As a result, there is a push for new sustainable water supplies taking place at all levels of government in every State. And it's easy to see why. Much of the sewage treated at Australian wastewater treatment plants is fed directly into the sea or rivers - in effect, it goes down the drain.

But water recycling is now set to play a much greater part in the water management cycle. Many states are committed to increasing water recycling targets in years to come.

Although there are differing views, researchers and health authorities say it's possible to recycle water to the relevant standard for whatever use the water is required, be it irrigation, horticulture, agriculture, household use - or drinking water.

What's important, they say, is defining what standards are required for particular uses, and then implementing relevant risk management, quality assurance, and monitoring programs to provide safe drinking water, or alternative uses that spare potable water.

And then there's one other vital issue to consider, which you can sum up with the adage: 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'. Overcoming the yuk factor might turn out to be the most crucial part of the whole process.

Recycling: Are You Doing Everything You Can?

It may come as a surprise to you, but there is a really good chance that the town or city you live in offer a service you may not have heard of; an energy audit. Cities and towns all over the country have started doing this, where an auditor comes to your home and goes through your living space and helps you to see where you could make changes that will not only help you conserve energy but will help you save money! Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsWhat a bonus it is to save money by doing the right thing.

There are so many changes you can make in your home to impact the way we recycle and in the end, will help you keep some of the money in your pocket.

Having recycling bins set up so that you can properly sort the items that are recycled is a great first step. That activity alone can cut down greatly on the items that end up in the landfills rather than where they can be recycled.

Keeping your televisions, DVDs, stereos and computers plugged in to a power strip or surge protector rather than directly into the wall and then turning off the power strip will cut back greatly on power "leaks" that can cost you money on your utility bill. Being aware to turn these items off, is the first step, and then having them plugged into the power strip will just further the action for saving money and energy.

Don't leave a light on when you walk out of a room and no one else is in there. And have you changed your light bulbs from the traditional ones to the compact flourescent kind? Did you know that the newer lights use 75% less energy to run and they will out live a traditional light bulb by up to 10 years? Help Save the Environment in Easy Steps: resources, tips, secretsMake the changes that need to be made in your home.

Don't run the dishwasher or the washing machine unless they are full. It's a waste of energy and water to run a cycle through the dishwasher when it's only half full. Don't turn it on until you have a full load to wash and then just wash them all at once.

Use microfiber cloths for cleaning all kinds of surfaces like furniture, counters and sinks. The bonus is that these items can be tossed into the washer and are perfectly able to be reused again and again. Think of the savings in paper towels alone! Talk about a win-win; if we use fewer paper towles, then that means fewer trees need to be cut to make them in the first place. How can we go wrong with thinking like that?

Take shorter showers and see if you can pick up a shower head that is a water-conserving item, already in place, that will save you money and you'll never even notice the difference during your shower.

There is so much you can do in the efforts to recycle, just be sure you're doing your part.

Recycling Items Like Computers & TVs

With the way technology is out-doing themselves year after year with newer, better, bigger and improved products for computer users, you can just imagine the amount of waste that is generated when consumers upgrade along with the process. One household may have one or two computers to upgrade on a yearly basis but if you add to that computers and monitors from even a small business, the numbers add up very quickly.

What is the problem with throwing computers, their monitors, TVs and the like away with the rest of our trash? The main concern is that with CRTs and TVs they each contain approximately four pounds of lead per unit. Lead cannot be biologically broken down and if it were placed in a landfill there is the possibility of the landfill becoming contaminated with the toxins from lead. Lead poisoning has been associated with several health problems in children, including, learning disabilities and behavior issues and in some extreme cases, where high doses of the lead has been found, there have been reports of seizures, coma and even death. There is always the risk of lead toxins seeping into a water source if left in a landfill and any results of lead poisoning are made even more tragic because they are so easily preventable.

In addition to the lead in some household items like computer screens and TVs, the plastic parts of these items sometimes contain a component that is called, brominated flame-retardant that helps the item to be resistant to flames in case of a fire. Unfortunately, while the exact results of exposure to this additive are undocumented there is sure to be some kind of negative result that it's just better to steer clear of.

In an effort to keep these potentially hazardous materials out of landfills there are many other options for ridding your home of older, outdated technology. The first option should be to check with your community to see if there is a program set up to receive older CRTs and TVs for recycling. For instance, in Massachusetts, where I live, many cities and towns were given grant money for the specific purpose of setting up such a program.

If your town does not have such a program the next place to look would be at a local TV repair shop or even an electronics retailer because they may be able to reuse what you want to throw out. Some areas even have electronic recycling companies that will come to your residence or business and pick up such items and from there they are responsible for the recycling of the items. Even if a piece of electronic equipment can no longer be used for refurbishing an older model they can always be dissected and the individual components can be sold for their scrap value.

No matter what the item is that you want to recycle, there is a way to do it, all you need to do is make a phone call or two and you will have done your part to follow the recycling laws.