O.C.’s green award winner turns sewer water into drinking water

October 3rd, 2008, 11:55 am · 2 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress

The winner of Toshiba’s Green Innovation Award goes to two county agencies that turn sewer water into drinking water. And yes, it’s coming out of the faucets for some Orange County residents.

But don’t be alarmed! The Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District’s three-step Groundwater Replenishment System process turns the waste into water that is more regulated than the bottled-water industry, said Gina DePinto, the spokeswoman for the Water District.

The system, which went online in January, uses a process of microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light “to purify highly-treated sewer water to state and federal drinking water standards,” she said.

We’ve written about this before. OC Register green living reporter Pat Brennan wrote about the system at “Soon on tap: purified sewer water” and then when it went live at “Sewer-water system begins filling aquifer.”

Essentially, the process produces 70 millions of water a day, or enough for 500,000 people per year. Besides the 3-step process, half of the water is put into a recharge basin in Anaheim where it takes six months to filter through the water supply before heading to homes in the Anaheim and Fullerton area. The other half is sent to the seawater intrusion barriers, which prevents salt water from getting into the aquifer. Read more at the Groundwater Replenishment System website.

Again, the end result is pure water. The additional six-month cleansing process was required by regulators for public perception, Pinto added.

“I’m not going to say it’s better or worse (than bottled water), but we do know that the bottled-water companies don’t have to meet as stringent regualtions as we do,” Pinto said.

The Toshiba award gets the agency $5,000 and a Toshiba laptop. But that’s nothing compared to past awards. In June, the agency received the $150,000 Stockholm International Water Institute Award, which some consider as the Nobel Prize of environmental science.

See my previous write-up of the finalists at “Toshiba names finalists for O.C. green innovation award.”

Related:

Soon on tap: purified sewer water, Nov. 29, 2007
Sewer-water system begins filling aquifer, Jan. 22, 2008
O.C. water agencies intensify lobbying for fear supplies are drying up, Jan. 2008

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John says:

October 3, 2008 at 6:20 pm

I think the whole idea of drinking what we flush down the toilet is just nasty. And I’m sure 10 to 20 years from now there will be people getting sick and dying and it will eventually be traced back to the tap water. I wouldnt be surprised if there is some unknown virus or bacteria that they are not capable of testing now that will be in the water 10 or 20 years from now making everyone sick.

Kenneth says:

October 4, 2008 at 5:24 am

I’m always pleased to see blogs like yours because they share my point of view. If you’d like, you can check out
http://www.alternative-energy-secrets.com. I often go there for I have the same sentiments when it comes to cO2 emissions and how to save up money using alternative, energy-saving methods.

Talk bout maximizing sewer water, I wonder what it would taste like…hmmm


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