Fact Check: The Real Price of Purified Sewage

First KUSI's John Coleman calls global warming 'a scam', now KUSI's Bob Kittle claims "That water (from purified sewage) is three to four times as expensive as anything else." Voice of San Diego to the rescue with their 'Fact Check' column!

"Determination: False

Analysis: There's no ignoring that creating water by purifying sewage (what Kittle called toilet-to-tap) isn't as cheap as importing water from the Colorado River or Sacramento Delta, our two main sources. But it's not as expensive as Kittle claimed....

Independent analyses have reinforced that purifying sewage is cheaper than desalination. Why? Because it takes more energy to strip salt out of seawater than crud out of sewage. That's why officials in Orange County chose purified sewage when they needed a new supply. They found it cheaper than seawater desalination."

Click Here for the full story from the Voice of San Diego.

California's Next Million Acre-Feet: Saving Water, Energy, and Money

A new analysis from the Pacific Institute recommends specific actions that can annually save a million acre-feet of water quickly and at a lower economic and ecological cost than developing new supplies. The assessment notes that new actions are immediately needed to reduce the growing tensions over the state’s water resources and to address California’s persistent water supply challenges.

In the urban sector, the report identifies water savings from replacing old, inefficient water-using devices with high-efficiency models in our homes and businesses, as well as replacing some lawns with low-water-use plants. In the agricultural sector, best water management practices include weather-based irrigation scheduling, regulated deficit irrigation, and switching from gravity or flood irrigation to sprinkler or drip irrigation systems.

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Water Recycling in San Francisco

Today, San Francisco's water utility will unveil a proposal for the city's first large-scale water recycling project, an arc-shaped facility near Ocean Beach that would filter and disinfect 2 million gallons of sewer and storm water each day for use on 1,000 acres of San Francisco land.

The $152 million Westside Recycled Water Project would be used to water Golden Gate Park, the Presidio Golf Course and Lincoln Park.

As proposed, the Westside project would take treated wastewater from the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant near San Francisco Zoo, run it through fine membranes and ultraviolet-light systems, and spread it through the network of existing pipes and sprinklers snaking through the parks. The water could also serve to flush toilets at the California Academy of Sciences.

All told, San Francisco will attempt to save some 10 million gallons a day through both recycling and conservation. Peninsula and East Bay cities, represented by the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, are attempting to save about 20 million gallons a day.

Read more

LA officials use green infrastructure to fight stormwater pollution

Southern California Public Radio has continued its series of reports regarding the use of green infrastructure to address the problem of stormwater pollution. The first report was on Ventura County, and this one covers Los Angeles.

Read, listen and watch (there are links to a video clip and a slide show) as the application of green infrastructure and low impact development in the urban jungle of Los Angeles is explained and explored.

The report ties in well with Surfrider Foundation's Ocean Friendly Gardens program.

Green infrastructure could cut stormwater pollution in Ventura County

State regulators are putting in place new rules to capture much of stormwater and dry season urban runoff before it pollutes coastal waters. In Ventura County, those rules calls for changes in the way gutters and culverts direct rainfall runoff.

Ventura County's new rules now promote low-impact development – ways to mimic natural pre-pavement conditions. Such rules change the shape of the pipe – or get rid of it entirely.

In other words: if it didn’t run off before people got here, it shouldn’t run off now. Read more.

Also see here.