The California State Water Resources Control Board approved new rules in December that will allow local water agencies to turn wastewater into tap water.
The new rules would allow local water agencies to turn toilet and shower water into drinking water after a deep cleaning process in the latest effort to tackle climate change, the Washington Examiner reported.
“This is so critical. It’s long overdue,” said Nichole Morgan, a board member, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Today is a huge milestone, but all the work is not finished yet,” Randy Barnard, chief of the technical operations section at the water board’s division of drinking water, said about the recent decision.
Despite the approval, the project is years away from completion. According to the Chronicle, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego are still researching it. San Jose is also hoping to eventually add this water to their water supply.
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Jennifer West, managing director of the trade group WateReuse California, touted that this new project will be a “model for the rest of the nation.”
Board members are attempting to assure the public that what has been dubbed as “toilet to tap” or “flush to faucet” is in fact safe due to the cleaning process.
During the process, which takes hours to days, the water is treated at a “higher level” before being deemed safe to be used as a part of the water supply, according to the Examiner.
“California has the most comprehensive regulations for water reuse in the nation, bar none,” said Mark Gold, director of water scarcity solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council, according to the Chronicle.
Would you drink this water?
The project has been pushed by Bill Gates since at least 2015, according to “The Ingraham Angle.”
In January 2015, Gates appeared on a episode of Jimmy Fallon’s show and asked Fallon to drink two glasses of water and guess which one was bottled water and which one was recycled “poop water.”
After Fallon made his guess, Gates claimed that it was a trick and that both glasses were “poop water.”
Fox News radio host Jimmy Failla and Fox News host Laura Ingraham then mocked California’s plan to recycle “poop water.”
“This is disgusting. It is gross. But knowing California, Gavin Newsom will find a way to spin this into the positive,” Failla said.
California isn’t the first to try this. Others, including Singapore and Namibia, currently use this method, the Examiner reported.
But this year Namibia is facing a water contamination crisis, with the water “not fit for human consumption.”
Construction on the California project is expected to begin in 2025, with plans to start water delivery by 2032.
