As climate change and lack of water are becoming more urgent problems around the world, governments are referring to new options for providing proper water supply, including the transformation of sewage waste into drinking water.
The members unanimously approved the new rules on Tuesday, after many years of discussion and shortly before the last time set six years ago that the state adopts the rules of re -use of wastewater by the end of 2023. Once the new rules are finalized next year, the water utilities will be able to submit plans for projects that will be approved by the Board.
New steps will save energy and benefit the environment, said Eskivel, adding that "these rules guarantee that the water produced is not only safe but purer than many sources of drinking water that we now rely on."
Voting on Tuesday allows this attitude.
According to the new rules approved on Tuesday, the version of which was set out in a 62-page document published early this year, any water processed in this way should take at least three separate purification processes, and will be monitored and additionally cleaned of pathogens.
It is in the document, it is said in the use of "ozonation process" - the addition of ozone gas, a powerful oxidizing disinfectant, with further addition of biologically activated carbon to the water. Then the water will take the process of "reverse osmosis", which physically removes the pollutants from the water, and an improved oxidation process, in which chemicals such as hydrogen or chlorine peroxide are added to purify water.
The new policy does not oblige water supply companies to distribute water by direct reuse of drinking water, but allows them to do so, which can help to maintain limited resources and reduce the amount of waste that causes the seas and natural waterways.
Recently, California spent more than three years in drought on the background of heat waves and record forest fires. To cope with the growing problem of limited water supply, Governor Gavin News (D) published new proposals for water processing purposes, which will cost $ 27 billion by 2040. Southern California Capital District, which provides almost half of 39 million inhabitants of the state, has already started construction of a large water processing project.
The idea of converting waste into drinking water is not new. Windhuk, the capital of Namibia - one of the most arid countries in the Africa of the year - became the first city in the world to introduce wastewater processing more than 30 years ago.
Singapore has installed a branched filtration system that can clean almost 238 million gallons of water a day, which is enough to fill 350 Olympic basins. Most of it goes to industrial operations and cooling systems, but some are mixed into the drinking water of the city-state.
Texas began to operate his first installation of direct use of drinking water in 2013, while Colorado presented recommendations for the use of wastewater for drinking earlier this year.
In the United Kingdom, which faced drought and record temperatures, and where residents opposed similar plans in 2013, the head of the country's environment stated last year that people need to become "less disgusting" in respect of this concept.
