From toilet to tap: How California fight drought
California’s historic drought is
forcing residents of Golden state to take a new look at “toilets to tap water”
reuse or, as they prefer to call it in Fountain Valley,” showers to flowers”.
This is the third year of drought in
the American west. By the end of July, more than half of California was
suffering the worst category of “exceptional drought”. The state has made it
illegal to operate a fountain, punishable to $500.the sources of supply are
literally drying up. The main source of water- snow melt from the Sierra Nevada,
imported water from the Colorado river and ground water-all are in decline.
Only alternative- The Fountain Valley
recycles 70 million gallons of water every day, turning waste water- from dish washer,
showers, washing machines, and toilets into drinking water. The water gets
through three stages of purification filtration through a series of tiny straws
to remove bacteria, reverse osmosis to remove dissolved chemical and exposure
to ultra violent light with hydrogen peroxide By the time it leaves the plant,
it is distilled water.
One of the first attempt to water
recycling collapsed of what water manager call the yuck factor. But now the
attitudes are changing.
Can we accept such a
step from toilets to tap? In a conservative society, such as ours, do you think
people would be ready to accept such a method? I think not. So what are our
options?
Please leave in your
valuable suggestions on alternative water recycling methods in the comment box
and let us know what you think.
House In-charge Seema Agarwal
