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A massive water recycling proposal could help alleviate the drought

Lake Mead, which water supplies 25 million people in Western America, has shrunk 36% of its capacity. It is owned by a rural community in California drain the water completely after breaking his well in early June. The fields are not seated, as farmers sell their water supply instead of planting crops, bringing in the nation’s food supply. in danger.

As the West dries up, they have been introduced by lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives HR 4099, A bill that would direct the Secretary of the Interior to create a $ 750 million recycling program in 17 western states in 2027. Enter at the end of June he is now before the committee on the natural resources chamber.)

“This is starting to become our new normal; 88 percent of the West is suffering from a bit of drought,” says Susie Lee (D-Nevada). Enter invoice. “Lake Mead Hoover is at its lowest level since the dam was built. And the Colorado River has been in drought for more than two decades. “

Meanwhile, the population and economy of the western United States are growing, with water supply causing tremendous pressure to be reduced. “I think we have more people, one. And the agricultural area has grown — two, ”says Grace Napolitano (D-California), who introduced the bill. “Then climate change exacerbates the problem.”

Part of the solution, lawmakers say, is to fund the construction of more facilities that can recycle wastewater from our sinks, toilets and showers. You’d think that’s gross and absurd, but the technology already exists, in fact, it’s been around for half a century. The process is fairly straightforward. A treatment plant takes in wastewater and adds microbes that consume organic matter. Then the water is pumped through special membranes that filter out bads like bacteria and viruses. To be sure, the water explodes with UV light to kill microbes. The water obtained can actually be also empty for human consumption: if you drink, the material may leach minerals from your body, so the facility will need to add minerals again. (I once drink the final product. … it’s like water.)

Recycled H2O can be pumped underground into aquifers, then re-drained when needed, cleaned again and sent to customers. Or it can be used for non-drinking purposes, such as for agricultural or industrial processes.

Basically, you’re taking the wastewater that should normally be treated and pumped into the sea — wasting it, really — and putting it back into the groundwater cycle, making it available to the public again. “Part of what’s so important as an element of water supply portfolios is reliability,” says Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. “To the extent that urban areas exist and generate wastewater, they can be treated. It provides a reliable source of additional water supply, even if the dry years have a limited supply and it would be difficult or impossible to develop alternative sources. ”

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Recycled water is also bankable, so to speak: it is stored for injection in groundwater for charging aquifers for use in droughts. This may be especially important in Western America because climate change makes drought more punishable and futzing with rain dynamics. Modeling of climate scientists shows that future storms will be more intense, but less likely to arrive. And by the end of the century, the mountain pack of snow — usually a large portion of western water will melt into spring runoff — is expected to shrink.

“Our hydrological cycle will be unpredictable,” says program manager Rafael Villegas Next operation At the Los Angeles Department of Water and Energy, a non-drinking reuse that has been recycling water since the 1970s. “With population growth, not only in California, but also where water comes from (Nevada, Arizona and northern California) you can expect additional demand in these systems. So we’re at the end of the straw, right? Then we need to start thinking about how to become more efficient with water. do do you have ”


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