Mwalimu-G
Elder Lister
California approves rules for converting sewage waste to drinking water
By Steve Gorman
December 20, 20237:43 PM GMT+3Updated 13 hours ago
Containers full of drinking water sit on the doorstep after being delivered to a home in Los Angeles, California April 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson Acquire Licensing Rights
LOS ANGELES, Dec 19 (Reuters) - California regulators on Tuesday cleared the way for widespread use of advanced filtration and treatment facilities designed to convert sewage waste into pure drinking water that can be pumped directly into systems feeding millions of household taps.
Proven technologies capable of recycling wastewater for human consumption, a concept once derided by critics as "toilet to tap," have gained greater credence in recent years as water-conscious California faces worsening drought cycles from climate change.
More than a decade in the making, the regulations adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board represent a landmark in the quest to reclaim some of the hundreds of millions of gallons of waste discharge that flows out to sea unused each year, supporters say.
"Today heralds a new era of water reuse," Patricia Sinicropi, executive director of the recycling trade group WateReuse California, said in a statement