[Southern_AZ_MWS] From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking

[Cathy Mullan]

I wonder if anyone has really studied the impact of injecting treated 
wastewater underground.

"after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals and 
ultraviolet light"  I would be interested in knowing if this is enough 
to scrub out personal care products residue from the water.  Cathy

NY Times
November 27, 2007
 From Sewage, Added Water for Drinking
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. — It used to be so final: flush the toilet, and 
waste be gone.

But on Nov. 30, for millions of people here in Orange County, pulling 
the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the 
sewage into drinking water — after a hard scrubbing with filters, 
screens, chemicals and ultraviolet light and the passage of time 
underground.

On that Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what 
industry experts say is the world’s largest plant devoted to purifying 
sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope 
it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent 
drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth.

The process, called by proponents “indirect potable water reuse” and 
“toilet to tap” by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities.

The San Diego City Council approved a pilot plan in October to bolster 
a drinking water reservoir with recycled sewer water. The mayor vetoed 
the proposal as costly and unlikely to win public acceptance, but the 
Council will consider overriding it in early December.

Water officials in the San Jose area announced a study of the issue in 
September, water managers in South Florida approved a plan in November 
calling for abundant use of recycled wastewater in the coming years in 
part to help restock drinking water supplies, and planners in Texas are 
giving it serious consideration.

“These types of projects you will see springing up all over the place 
where there are severe water shortages,” said Michael R. Markus, the 
general manager of the Orange County district, whose plant, which will 
process 70 million gallons a day, has already been visited by water 
managers from across the globe.

The finished product, which district managers say exceeds drinking 
water standards, will not flow directly into kitchen and bathroom taps; 
state regulations forbid that.

Instead it will be injected underground, with half of it helping to 
form a barrier against seawater intruding on groundwater sources and 
the other half gradually filtering into aquifers that supply 2.3 
million people, about three-quarters of the county. The recycling 
project will produce much more potable water and at a higher quality 
than did the mid-1970s-era plant it replaces.

The Groundwater Replenishment System, as the $481 million plant here is 
known, is a labyrinth of tubing and tanks that sucks in treated sewer 
water the color of dark beer from a sanitation plant next door, and 
first runs it through microfilters to remove solids. The water then 
undergoes reverse osmosis, forcing it through thin, porous membranes at 
high pressure, before it is further cleansed with peroxide and 
ultraviolet light to break down any remaining pharmaceuticals and 
carcinogens.

The result, Mr. Markus said, “is as pure as distilled water” and about 
the same cost as buying water from wholesalers.

Recycled water, also called reclaimed or gray water, has been used for 
decades in agriculture, landscaping and by industrial plants.

And for years, treated sewage, known as effluent, has been discharged 
into oceans and rivers, including the Mississippi and the Colorado, 
which supply drinking water for millions.

But only about a dozen water agencies in the United States, and several 
more abroad, recycle treated sewage to replenish drinking water 
supplies, though none here steer the water directly into household 
taps. They typically spray or inject the water into the ground and 
allow it to percolate down to aquifers.

Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, among the most arid places in Africa, is 
believed to be the only place in the world that practices “direct 
potable reuse” on a large-scale, with recycled water going directly 
into the tap water distribution system, said James Crook, a water 
industry consultant who has studied the issue.

The projects are costly and often face health concerns from opponents.

Such was the case on Nov. 6 in Tucson, where a wide-ranging ballot 
measure that would have barred the city from using purified water in 
drinking water supplies failed overwhelmingly. The water department 
there said it had no such plans but the idea has been discussed in the 
past.

John Kromko, a former Arizona state legislator who advocated for the 
prohibition, said he was skeptical about claims that the recycling 
process cleanses all contaminants from the water and he suggested that 
Tucson limit growth rather than find new ways to feed it.

“We really don’t know how safe it is,” he said. “And if we controlled 
growth we would never have to worry about drinking it.”

Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego, in vetoing the City Council plan 
there, said it “is not a silver bullet for the region’s water needs” 
and the public has never taken to the idea in the 15 years it has been 
discussed off and on.

Although originally estimated at $10 million for the pilot study in San 
Diego, water department officials said the figure would be refined, and 
the total cost of the project might be hundreds of millions of dollars. 
Although the Council wants to offset the cost with government grants 
and other sources, Mr. Sanders predicted it would add to already 
escalating water bills.

“It is one of the most expensive kinds of water you can create,” said 
Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the mayor. “It is a large investment for a 
very small return.”

San Diego, which imports about 85 percent of its water because of a 
lack of aquifers, asked residents this year to curtail water use.

Here in Orange County, the project, a collaboration between the water 
and sanitation districts, has not faced serious opposition, in part 
because of a public awareness and marketing campaign.

Early on, officials secured the backing of environmental groups, 
elected leaders and civic groups, helped in part by the fact the 
project eliminated the need for the sanitation district to build a new 
pipe spewing effluent into the ocean.

Orange County began purifying sewer water in 1976 with its Water 
Factory 21, which dispensed the cleansed water into the ground to 
protect groundwater from encroaching seawater.

That plant has been replaced by the new one, with more advanced 
technology, and is intended to cope with not only current water needs 
but also expectations that the county’s population will grow by 500,000 
by 2020.

Still, said Stephen Coonan, a water industry consultant in Texas, such 
projects proceed slowly.

“Nobody is jumping out to do it,” he said. “They want to make sure the 
science is where it should be. I think the public is accepting we are 
investigating it.”