By Elliot Spagat, Source: Huffington Post

Recycled Sewage Boosts Sydney Water Supply

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Acknowledging California’s parched new reality, the city of San Diego has embraced a once-toxic idea: turning sewer water into drinking water.

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to advance a $2.5-billion plan to recycle wastewater, the latest example of how California cities are looking for new supplies amid a severe drought.

Each of the nine council members effusively praised the effort before the vote as a way to make San Diego less dependent on imported water and insulated from drought.

“We’re at the end of the pipeline,” said Councilman Scott Sherman. “We have a real problem getting water down here.”

Such recycling, called toilet-to-tap by critics, has suffered an image problem that industry insiders call “the yuck factor.”

San Diego, a city of 1.4 million people that imports 85 percent of its water from the Colorado River and Northern California, has slowly warmed to the idea. A 2012 survey by the San Diego County Water Authority showed that nearly three of four residents favored turning wastewater into drinking water, a major shift from one of four in a 2005 survey.

Read the full story at: Huffington Post