Reclaimed is a better term. Several communities in SoCal uses it towards irrigation that naturally recharges the water table.

If done property it can be better than the water we currently collect from various rivers and channel here, organics and all into the water system.

LA and the SW in general exploded during one of the wetter periods over the last couple of hundred years. All appearances so far indicates this could be a 50-60 year drought that historically plague the region.

Its one way to meet our future water needs. One that needs to be looked at very seriously as it appears the western states are heading into one of those prolonged droughts that happen every couple of hundred years.

I’m fine with this. Just as long as we’re not all eating asparagus.

Water is water. It all the other stuff in our pee that makes it pee. Remove that, and you just have water. I would reckon that 99.99% of all water molecules on earth were in some animal’s urine at some time or another. Get over it. We need water to survive. Who cares where it comes from.

The water supply in Orange County is at least partially reclaimed water. What happens is that after treatment, the water is pumped into the ground to help recharge the water table. It then gets treated again before becoming drinking water. You won’t even notice when it happens.

This video illustrates how we have been using “reclaimed” water for eternity.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/science-channel/4969-what-are-the-odds-lincolns-coffee-video.htm

Lots of gross things are mostly water. Although I’m not interested in drinking pee-water from the source, once it’s reclaimed, filtered and disinfected I’m down.

But seriously, we don’t have many options for the long term.

Ah, no.

The issue is all the medications that they are having trouble filtering out completely. I’m ok with the uppers (we all need a little pick me up sometimes), but not so much ok with things like viagra or benzodiazepines. While they speculate that the amounts of these drugs are minute, no one knows the effect this will have over the long term. That sort of worries me.

get over it.

You have been drinking recycled water since you were born.

If you don’t want to have to drink reclaimed water, then reduce your water consumption. Water your garden with greywater, take super-short showers, get rid of water-hogs like grass in your landscape.

We have it in Orange County. Tastes good to me! Don’t like it?? Use a brita!

When LA’s mansion owners (see: rich celebs) start to reduce their water consumption…using greywater to irrigate their gardens, vow to take super-short showers and get rid of their water-hogging landscapes…then maybe the rest of us will be convinced.

Until then, I’m letting the water run while I brush my teeth.

That is, until the water police show up to give me a ticket.

This is great.