1. Toilet to Tap: Water Resources and San Diego Jeanne Faverman ENVI 485 March 22, 2007

2. San Diego Population Projection Water Demand Projected to Rise by 25% by 2025!!!

3. The Colorado River http://geologia.cicese.mx/sist_inf_geo/Salada/colorado_river.jpg

4. Groundwater depletion http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/cio/11125940

5. Annual Colorado River Water Allocation Upper basin: Colorado - 3.80 million acre-feet Wyoming - 1.72 Utah - 1.13 New Mexico - 0.85 Subtotal: 7.50 Lower basin: California - 4.4 (currently using 5.2) Arizona - 2.8 Nevada - 0.3 Subtotal: 7.50 México - 1.5 GRAND TOTAL ~ 17.5 million acre-feet!!!!!!!!

6. San Diego’s Current Water Supplies ~60-85% from the Colorado River Las Vegas dumps 58 billion gallons of treated sewage water into Lake Mead Flows into Colorado River 17% of river’s flow is discharge Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (State Water Source) > 300 farmers and cities are permitted to discharge their treated and untreated runoff into rivers 10% of the rivers’ flow is discharge

7. Where does wastewater go for most places? Most communities don’t flush waste into ocean Treated and recycled back to water source Example: Las Vegas http://www.rdn.bc.ca/cms/wpimages/wpID1164imgID1092.gif

8. Are Water Sources Safe? Colorado River known to have risks in the past: Contamination with pesticides Ammonium Perchlorate (toxic rocket fuel) Heavy metals Pathogens such as Giardia People are much more accepting of “natural” water sources such as the Colorado River even if those sources include wastewater

9. What does this mean? Councilwoman Donna Frye: Much of what is imported into the city is already tainted with treated or recycled wastewater "The citizens of San Diego are, in fact, drinking treated wastewater. It's something that is happening now."

10. San Diego Water Usage http://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/images/graph1.gifhttp://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/images/graph2.gif

11. What is Toilet to Tap? Toilet to Tap refers to the recycling of wastewater for reuse as potable water “Water repurification” became “toilet to tap” Name given to the 1999 City Council referendum Voters rejected Resurfacing again since 2005 Reliable LOCAL source for alternate water resources Offers opportunity for LONG-TERM sustainability

12. Can Science Handle the Load? From a scientific standpoint there is no doubt that any recycled wastewater will go above and beyond the prevailing standards of purity The problem is who wants to listen to science when disgust is involved?

13. Toilet to Tap Process Reverse osmosis Micro-filtration Ultraviolet light Hydrogen peroxide Natural filtration Water delivered will be so clean that minerals must be added back Mix highly treated wastewater with “raw” river water in the San Vicente Reservoir Treat again before piping into homes

14. Reservoirs are a less cumbersome approach Reservoir augmentation require expansion of a treatment plant and laying a pipeline to the reservoir Recycling wastewater for highway medians and golf courses rely on an expensive system of pipes to carry nonpotable drinking water

15. How expensive is it?

16. Current Water Recycling Projects produce 4.1 billion gallons of water in San Diego County, less than 2 percent of all the water used each year Goal: create projects that will produce 14.7 billion more gallons of recycled water by 2030

17. San Diego and Orange County SAN DIEGO WATER DEPARTMENT Water customers served: 1.2 million. Proposed project's annual volume: 10,500 acre-feet. Recycled water storage: San Vicente Reservoir. Water treatment technologies: Microfiltration, reverse osmosis, UV and hydrogen-peroxide disinfection. Cost: $210 million. Status: under review by a city committee. ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT Water customers served: 2.3 million. Project's annual volume: 72,000 acre-feet. Recycled water storage: Orange County aquifer. Water treatment technologies: Microfiltration, reverse osmosis, UV and hydrogen-peroxide disinfection. Cost: $487 million. Status: scheduled for 2007 completion.

18. Orange County Processing Plant

19. Filtration Makes Drinkable Water

20. Why did it work there and not here? 1999: San Diego halted its first repurification project after public outcry “Toilet to Tap” made national headlines Objections: Health, safety, and operational concerns Lower-income neighborhoods in the southern part of the city would become guinea pigs for untested technology

21. http://www.hcn.org/allimages/2000/may08/graphics/000508.032.gif

22. Communication is key Orange County honored for having the nation’s best public-outreach program: Backing from > 400 OC organizations and leaders Teacher unions, hospitals, Surfrider Foundation, Boeing, Auxiliary Bishop Jamie Soto Face-to-face meetings with influential residents

23. A Global Issue Southwestern US Australia Singapore Europe Anywhere population is growing with a finite supply of potable water

24. My Recommendations Educate the masses Rename the referendum and project “toilet to tap” and “sewer to showers” not positive Water conservation efforts Rainwater collections Start using as a preventative effort, not as a last resort

25. Conclusion Population in the future will increase Drinkable water is a finite resource Reclamation projects can be some of the most affordable and reliable options for long-term sustainability Is it better to drink recycled water or not have any water to drink? THIS MIGHT BE A CHOICE SAN DIEGIANS HAVE TO MAKE SOONER THEN LATER!!!

26. Sources http://www.sdcwa.org http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050912/news_1n12water.html http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050712-9999-1n12water.html http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070309/news_lz1e9bird.html http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2000/108-10/forum.html http://www.poopreport.com/BMnewswire/toilet_to_tap.html http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:76253 http://geologia.cicese.mx/RCdelta/background_eng.htm http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/9587556/detail.html http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/07/27/news/sandiego/0_39_037_27_06.txt http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/09/23/news/top_stories/21_06_059_22_05.tx t http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/09/23/news/top_stories/21_06_059_22_05.tx t

27. Questions 1.What are the sources for San Diego water? How is San Diego’s method of wastewater disposal different from most places? 2.What is toilet to tap? Why is it a reasonable alternative? 3.Why did the water recycling facility in Orange Co. receive approval when San Diego Co. did not?