The Pros And Cons Of Waste Water

In the United States Using waste water, as drinking water is very controversial. There are individuals who agree that agree that it is a good source of water and don’t mind there wastewater being reused. On the other hand, there are other individuals who see this as unhealthy practice and would be disgusted by the though of doing this. Being controversial, many states and cities in The U.S have not taken steps to increase the use of wastewater, which is renewable, as a source of water, causing a greater demand for non-renewable water sources. This is having a great impact on the world as the world population grows.

Renee Cho of state of the planet Blog, a blogs from the Earth Institute says in the opening of his article entitled From Wastewater to Drinking Water, that “Across the globe, 2 out of 10 people do not have access to safe drinking water.” To bring it closer to home, right here, in the U.S, many states and cities are suffering from water shortages and droughts. Robert Glennon in his book Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It reports “Americans use 24 gallons of water each day to flush their toilets—approximately 5.8 billion gallons.” Most of this wastewater will not be reused for drinking but instead cleaned to EPA standards of Drinking and then used for other reasons. Cho reports that most of the wastewater is released into rivers and lakes, and some is reused and recycled for” irrigation, landscaping, industry and toilet flushing.” While it may be good to replenish sensitive ecosystems that sustain wildlife, fish and plants who are left vulnerable after water is diverted for the needs of urban and rural communities. It is also important to limit the amount we take from these sources in the first...

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...sis. At this stage the treatment plant has the wastewater pumped through membranes. This process eliminates viruses, bacteria, and protozoa that are in the wastewater. Advanced Oxidation happens next in the treatment process. UV and or ozone and hydrogen peroxide and used to further disinfect and remove contaminants from the wastewater. The last step is called Fresh Water Blend. As stated in the name of the process Freshwater is now blended with the wastewater. Either the water is blended with surface water reservoirs or added to groundwater, where this water can remain in these reservoirs for an average of 6 months to be further purified by natural processes. Once this water is taken from the groundwater or reservoir is goes through the same standard water purification process all drinking water undergoes to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.