“This is a potential new source of water for California,” said former Assemblyman Rich Gordon.
“We need to find water where we can.” In a sense, the water we drink today has been recycling since the beginning of time, thanks to the natural water cycle.
“In fact, it’s the water our astronauts drink at the space station.” Water recycling is more the norm in countries like Singapore, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Australia, which have long had water shortages.
Israel reclaims about 80 percent of its wastewater, while Singapore reclaims almost 100 percent.
Why not?” Right now, as much as 5 percent of Santa Clara County’s water supply comes from recycled water, all of which is currently designated for non-potable uses such as irrigation for landscaping and golf courses.
“But we are aggressively pursuing plans to produce purified water for potable use.” The agency has two more advanced water purification projects being planned — one a new plant in Sunnyvale, close to the Donald Summers Water Pollution Control Plant, as well as an expansion of the existing Zanker Road plant.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District calls it “purified water.” A brewery in Half Moon Bay has a more creative approach: It periodically makes beer out of recycled wastewater.
“The idea behind it was for people to get used to the concept that we can actually purify water to drinking standards,” Gordon said.
What the tours don’t do, however, is have people taste the water for themselves.
But regardless, Hsueh said, the tours are useful to convince people of the high quality of the recycled water.