Dan Espen wrote:
songbird writes:
Dan Espen wrote:
...
I understand Calif is getting closer to drinking some of that
recycled waste water.

already does in some places, they pump it back through a
wetland or put it back underground and then pump it back up
and run it through a treatment plant again. these are now
getting more and more common and people stop objecting
because that's pretty similar to what people in the rest
of the country also do (they drink treated water that comes
from rivers that have other cities upstream).

I don't think there is anywhere they go directly from sewage treatment
to back into water supply. They do have plants that apply
sufficient treatment.

Last I heard San Diego was getting close to giving it a try.

i'm reading too many project descriptions and statuses
to keep them all straight, but seems i recall a pilot
project there which is not yet feeding water to the
mains, but it could be and if the drought persists it may
get switched over. another near SF comes to mind too but
i'm not sure that is online yet or just starting the next
stage, but it's coming.


I'm for thinking bigger. We need Calif agriculture to feed us and the
country. A mega project to build a pipeline to the Columbia River
is a solution for the longer term.

peanuts compared to what they could accomplish if
they just stopped dumping all their treated water
and storm run off into the oceans and recycled more
water. they'd be just fine. it's just that it's
been so cheap now to just dump it that is what they've
set up to do. this is changing...

I've never seen the Columbia in person, but from the
maps and pictures, I don't see how "peanuts" applies.

peanuts is what you can move via pipeline from there
to California as compared to what you could do for the
same money spent on projects that reuse existing sources.

the large CWP uses huge pumps to move water from the
north to the south which also uses a lot of electricity
(some which they regain on the other side from generation
but the cost is still high). this is only a small fraction
of the water used in CA for irrigation.

to move a much larger portion of the Columbia would need
many more pipelines than one. that's not a minor expense
for pumping, materials to build it, maintenance, etc.


songbird