Water Recycling

Did you know that the average American household uses 400 gallons of water per day? With most of it being used in the bathroom for bathing, toilet flushing, handwashing and brushing of teeth! Other common uses for water include laundry, dishwashing, drinking, cooking, car washing and even watering of lawns. Where does this water go? A small portion will go back into the earth but most of it will flow through a sewer system heading to a sewage treatment plant to eventually be reused. In California, we get our water from a surface water source, coming from a river, lake, or reservoir. With the yearly average amount of rain and snow at 30 inches and shrinking per year, this makes water recycling a priority in today’s efforts on conservation. So, what is recycled water?

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Fiji Water owns the entirety of the largest aquifer in Fiji and only pays fifteen cents per liter (Raz). When the price was increased to fifteen cents the only factory on the island shut down, leaving many Fijians without jobs. It would seem that the Fijian military is also working for Fiji Water. When a reporter from Canada was questioned by the military about stealing business from Fiji Water (Lenzer September). Not only does Fiji Water seem to have all of Fiji in its control, one bottle of Fiji Water needs a high amount of resources to make it to the grocery store. For one 700 ml bottle of Fiji Water 7.25 gallons of water and fossil fuels are used

Hawaii is facing a crisis. This is not one of wars, disease or famine; the issue is water. Located thousands of miles away from the other continents, many resources in Hawaii are scarce. As a result, Hawaii’s water supply is suffering because of the an ever changing climate, which results in stress on our valuable water.

The company Eco Water, Inc. was started by Manish Krishna. He started the company to market what came to be the Purity II Naturalizer Water Unit. The Purity II comes from a company called Environmental Control, Inc. Manny’s company, Eco Water, Inc. started off in a very efficient way. Only $20,000 was used to get Eco Water, Inc. going in the right direction. For most, this is very little money to get a company started. By keeping his company manageable with such little overhead, Manny definitely has room for expansion and more sales.

This topic has a lot of correlation to what we have been discussing in class, and the assigned reading- in the sense that water is the basis of life on earth. Many people have the mindset (including myself before the tour) that we will never run out of water. This leads to an exaggeration of water being wasted whether it be from: washing dishes, taking long showers, running water when not using it. I learned from the treatment facility that they collect over 80 million gallons of wastewater a day! It also takes a lot of energy to be able to treat the water. I was surprised to learn the reclaimed water is used to feed parks, golf courses and even used agricultural purposes. This is important, and just like public transportation, should be funded and be labeled as high priority. The reason it should be funded more is because why waste the little fresh water we have left on places that don’t necessarily need them?

Osmosis itself is the tendency for water to move from a weaker saline solution to a stronger saline solution until equilibrium is reached. The molecules move through a semi-permeable membrane, which separates the two solutions. Reverse osmosis, being the opposite process, provides pressure to the water, forcing the solvent to move from a strong saline solution to a weak saline solution. The salt molecules are physically larger than the solvent molecules and can therefore not pass through the semi-permeable membrane (Water Treatment Alternatives - Reverse Osmosis). Major advantages of reverse osmosis includes the removal of all minerals too large to pass through the membrane. A comprehensive list of the elements that reverse osmosis membranes will remove includes: sodium, sulfate, calcium, potassium, nitrate, iron, zinc, mercury, selenium, phosphate, lead, arsenic, magnesium, nickel, fluoride, manganese, cadmium, barium, and cyanide (What is Reverse Osmosis?). Some disadvantages of reverse osmosis are that the process is unable to remove chlorine, and most harmful organic compounds. After completing the process, the product is mostly acidic water which can be harmful to the body in large quantities, and while not as ineffective as distillation, reverse osmosis produces one gallon of pure water for every three gallons treated (Water Treatment Alternatives - Reverse

The mandatory water conservation policy will issue fines to people and businesses that are using more than their fair share of the water supply. This could adversely affect farmers, water parks, apartment complexes, as well as any other business that relies on water usage. “California farmers ‘are scared to death’ about ceding some oversight of critical irrigation water to state government” (Knickmeyer). Since farmers use 80 percent of the water supply, they are the largest competing interest of this mandatory fine on excessive water usage. Farmers feel like this policy is unfair because it will ultimately place their business at

Collectively the United States is ranked as the greatest consumers of water worldwide; a startling fact for a country that cannot support its own unrivaled demands (Barlow, 2007). The United States is now crucially dependent on nonrenewable groundwater for a staggering 50% of its daily water usage (Barlow, 2007). In addition to such formidable numbers, citizens of the United States use and waste up 80-100 gallons or 454 liters of water per day (Perlman, 2009). The United States simply doesn’t possess enough fresh water or renewable sources of water to keep up with its gross demands. Nearly 40% of U.S waters are deemed unsafe for recreational activities such as fishing and even swimming

We recycle bottles, papers, and other things. Recourse will not always available for new things. The same thing applies in water. Barnett points out that "the more freshwater we pull into our homes and businesses, the more we send down drains and toilets and into waste pipes that leak, spill, and burst an average of 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage a year in the United States" (Barnett, Water Work). The population is growth, at the same time the waste water also increase. Where we are going to put this much of waste water other than not recycle them? If we don't recycle and reuse them it will affect to environment, such as river and ecosystem. Barnett shows what happen in Waikiki by "forcing 50 million gallons of untreated sewage into the aquamarine waters of Waikiki" and "the disaster closed some of the most famous beaches in the world for ten days and is suspected in the death of a surfer who became infected with flesh-eating bacteria. Not least, there are the carbon emissions associated with pumping, heating, and treating water, and moving it around our homes, cities, and regions" (Barnett, Water work). We don't want to suffer with sick and effect environment. Recycle is not only good for people and environment but save the federal money. Barnett proves with San Francisco Bay that "the group has secured $38 million in federal funding and another $114 million in state and local money to build eight recycling projects" (Barnett, Water Work). Jim Van Haun said, "using recycled waste water allows us to rely less on our ground-water table, which is helpful during a drought" (Robbins, Gary, RECYLING Water District Treating Sewage so it can be used on Vegetation). Barnett shows how community are recycle their waste water "communities are recycling their wastewater for uses such as cooling industrial plants and irrigating parklands and soccer fields" (Barnett, Water Work). The way to save the water is by

There are multiple stages that the water has to go through. First it goes through the flocculation basins, then the sedimentation basins, than the filtration, and then chlorination. In addition to these process, the plant recently upgraded to include Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) filters and Ultra Violet Light (UV) reactors.

In response to a University of Florida Request for Proposal, the TechCorp company has formed a research team to investigate water usage on the University of Florida campus. The University of Florida occupies a unique role as a leader in sustainability and ecological awareness in the region, and in keeping with this role, emphasizes efficient water usage. However, this team’s research has shown that not only are university water supplies outdated and inefficient, but they are also unsatisfactory to students and faculty. This team has proposed a series of solutions designed to repair and replace damaged structures with highly efficient equipment and materials, and has scheduled maintenance plans for bathrooms, landscapes areas, pools, lecture halls

One major cost of supplying water is treating raw water to make it safe to drink. In the case of the Des Moines Water Works, that expense has been increasing in recent years because the utility must remove nitrate from fertilizer that runs off farm fields and into the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

The Reverse Osmosis filtration

Refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling of waste water for different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation.