To the editor: Coined within the Nineteen Nineties by these against the concept of recycling sewage, the time period “flush bathroom” serves as a reminder of the dangerous results of ignorance. (“California prepares to show wastewater into clear ingesting water underneath new guidelines,” December 17)
We’re in a water disaster attributable to an entire lack of expertise of local weather change and an unwillingness to undertake modifications in water use or conservation. Assume how a lot additional we’d be if we had adopted the much-needed “direct beverage recycling” coverage 30 years in the past as a way of addressing the water scarcity.
Water is life and we had higher begin implementing insurance policies to handle the extreme water scarcity earlier than it’s too late. If you happen to suppose going with out fossil fuels is a trouble, strive going with out water.
Jason Y. Calizar, Torrance
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To the editor: Ian James’ latest article did a superb job of explaining the chance introduced by new state rules for direct beverage recycling, which is able to put “extremely processed [waste] water straight into the ingesting water system,” with strict safety of public well being and security.
In the present day, LA County imports 55% to 60% of its contemporary water from sources outdoors the realm, together with the Colorado River, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and the streams that feed Mono Lake. Importing water is pricey, energy-intensive and more and more unreliable because the West will get drier.
LA County might probably get 30% to 40% of our contemporary water from handled wastewater. If we totally operationalize native obtainable water choices – together with rainwater harvesting, groundwater purification and conservation – the area can finally depend on water imports for under 20% of native provides. LA County’s new water plan hopes to realize this purpose by 2045.
Switching to primarily domestically sourced water is vital to making sure a resilient future. Embracing wastewater recycling is likely one of the greatest issues we are able to do to make it occur.
Bruce Reznik, Los Angeles
The writer is the manager director of LA Waterkeeper.
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To the editor: Wastewater consists of chemical compounds and their metabolites that medical doctors give to sufferers. Consider the chemotherapy, antibiotics, hormones, blood stress medicine and cholesterol-lowering medicine which might be excreted in our sewage.
No present know-how can fully take away these chemical merchandise from wastewater. No know-how exists to even measure these chemical compounds in sewage therapy crops. Chemists can do particular person exams, however there is no such thing as a bulk chemical evaluation to do that.
The choice makers haven’t carried out all their homework. They have a look at water and micro organism, however ignore most of the chemical compounds which might be within the wastewater.
Steven Kamajian, DO, Montrose
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To the editor: A long time in the past, my brother, a retired civil engineer, accredited some structural plans for the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey. When it was completed, he was invited to go to the plant and take a look at the water.
He noticed the chemical take a look at report earlier than getting a pattern, which he stated tasted as clear and tasteless as any faucet or bottled water you would purchase.
Local weather change is having a dramatic impact on the provision of ingesting water around the globe. We have to get our heads out of the bathroom and take care of each viable possibility to offer individuals “blue gold.”
The water extraction work.
Matt Giorgi, Brea