How Recycling Wastewater Could Help Quench the West’s Thirst

Bold Names

The Wall Street Journal

Technology

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2023

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Severe droughts in the American South and West are raising new questions about how to ensure millions of people have access to clean, safe water. That’s why several local water systems, including one that provides water to 19 million people in Southern California, are looking to a method of water recycling that brings treated wastewater back into the system. It’s called “direct potable reuse,” but many people have dubbed it “toilet to tap.” Can it succeed despite the ick factor? WSJ’s Alex Ossola visited Los Angeles to find out just how it would work, and how the public is reacting. Further reading: California Could Face Cuts to Colorado River Usage Under Federal Proposal California Governor Lifts Most Drought Restrictions on Water Use Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The business environment for foreign companies in China can be summed up in one word, challenging.
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0:20.0	Los Angeles, California, a city known for sun, surf, and celebrities.
0:32.0	But its residents are obsessed with something else.
0:36.0	Water.
0:38.0	I talk to a few of them on the street and it seemed like everybody had something to say.
0:42.0	Growing up in California like water has always been an issue.
0:45.0	I do think a lot about water and where it comes from.
0:48.0	I've gone through many droughts here.
0:50.0	If I see like any taps open somewhere in a gym, maybe I tell them to shut it off.
0:55.0	I remember when I was in college, they had little timers in the shower, so you didn't take too long of a shower.
1:00.0	I was like, 10 minutes.
1:04.0	A lack of water in Southern California isn't exactly a new problem.
1:08.0	It's been a point of contention for over a century.
1:11.0	It's caused so much drama, in fact, that many historians refer to the early 1900s
1:16.0	as a time of California's water wars.
1:19.0	That was the true story that inspired the 1974 movie Chinatown.
1:23.0	Yeah, it's not really about Chinatown, it's about water.
1:27.0	They're blowing these farmers out of their land and then picking it up for peanuts.
1:30.0	You have any idea what this land would be worth with a steady water supply?
1:35.0	About 30 million more than they paid for it.
	...

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