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Radiant_Ad_4428 t1_iwh8gio wrote

Reply to comment by FreekFrealy in Recycled wastewater is not only as safe to drink as conventional potable water, it may even be less toxic than many sources of water we already drink daily by giuliomagnifico

If you've ever visited a wastewater treatment facility you'd understand people's apprehension.

Just a sea of floating tampon applicators and condoms.

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FreekFrealy t1_iwh8pc8 wrote

I understand perfectly well that that very same water is released into the river after treatment only to be uptaken into the next city's water system.

Obviously an apprehension over unsafe water sources is a natural and healthy response but the point is that we are already drinking that tampon water, so we may as well be more efficient about it

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sawbladex t1_iwj14b0 wrote

... I don't know man, I want to cut that tampon water with other water and shuffle the mixture around a bit.

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KarateKid72 t1_iwirp6e wrote

If you worked in the industry, you’d know that what gets caught in a bar screen isn’t what makes to the outfall. The variation between pretreatment, influent and effluent is quite large. To say nothing of the differences in Coliform bacteria populations upstream, downstream. Influent and effluent.

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yacht_boy t1_iwjdqtr wrote

I've been to over 100 of them. The whole point is that we take stuff out of wastewater and make the water clean again. I don't care how dirty the water coming in is. I care how clean it is when the job is done.

What's missing from this thread is the realization that there are different levels of treatment. You can take any grade of dirty water and turn it into any grade of clean water. It's just a matter of how much time, energy, and money you want to spend.

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gunplumber700 t1_iwjfyps wrote

While that’s a good point are you really that naïve that you think it’s going to be a widespread standard of operation at every water system?

If you’ve truly been to 100 plants in a meaningful capacity I can’t believe you have the ignorance to say it’s how much you want to spend. Especially in places that do not have a high water reuse need.

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yacht_boy t1_iwk5duj wrote

Not everyone needs to reuse water. They can spend less to get water to the quality that is what meets their 1970s or 1980s permit limits.

But water reuse is entirely achievable for those who need it. You seem to be stuck on the ick factor. Get over it.

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Radiant_Ad_4428 t1_iwk9j5o wrote

Hey I'm fully aware about how bacteria and tampons can be removed. My question to you is about that guy whose water supply was fucked by the oil fracking.

Remember that video? Is that water that can be salvaged? You seem to know a lot.

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yacht_boy t1_iwlyakt wrote

All water is infinitely recycled. Anything that can be put into water can be taken back out. It's just a matter of how much time, energy, and money you want to spend.

I don't know enough about what was going on with that guy's water to comment on specific fixes to his well water. But when you get into issues with rural communities where people are using individual wells, it can get really, really expensive to try to treat all those individual wells. Like many other technologies, water technologies benefit from economies of scale. So for a guy who's private well is suffering from contamination, the costs to remove that contamination can be nightmarish because he's got to pay for the whole thing himself. But if that same contamination was present at a municipal facility serving 1000s of people, the total equipment and operational cost might be much bigger than for the private well but the cost per person amortized out over 20 years might be quite manageable.

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