California regulators approve new rules for turning wastewater into drinking water

(19 Dec 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4469219

ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Jose, California - 13 December 2023
1. Various of Lakeisha Bryant showing samples of water at various stages of purification
HEADLINE: California aims to turn sewage into drinking water
2. Aerial footage of Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center
ANNOTATION: California regulators have approved new rules that would allow local water agencies to provide purified wastewater to households.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kirsten Struve, Santa Clara Valley Water District, assistant officer of water supply division:
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"They are approving the regulations that will govern direct potable reuse, meaning, you know, treating this water to a standard where it can be either served directly to customers or go to a drinking water treatment plant."
4. Lakeisha Bryant holds flasks with treated wastewater and purified water
5. Flask holding purified water
6. Aerial footage of San José-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Kirsten Struve, Santa Clara Valley Water District, assistant officer of water supply division:
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"We have a wastewater treatment facility first that makes it very clean, and then we have additional processes to make it to drinking water standards. So there's a whole technology in between the toilet and the tap."
8. Lakeisha Bryant showing micro filtration system
9. Walking shot of tubes of micro filtration system
10. Toilet flushing
11. Water coming out of sink faucet
12. Aerial footage of wastewater treatment facility with San Francisco Bay in background
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Kirsten Struve, Santa Clara Valley Water District, assistant officer of water supply division:
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"We live in California where drought happens all the time. And with climate change, it will only get worse. And this is a drought resistant supply that we will need in the future to meet the demands of our communities. And so that's why we opened this facility."
14. Entrance sign at Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Lakeisha Bryant, Santa Clara Valley Water District, public information representative:
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"So there is a very expensive advanced water treatment process and it's goes through three stages. So micro-filtration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light disinfection, and the water is pure water at the end."
16. Fibers in micro-filtration system
17. Walking shot in reverse-osmosis system
18. Worker cleaning ultraviolet light disinfection system
19. Water coming out of faucet
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Lakeisha Bryant, Santa Clara Valley Water District, public information representative:
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"Water is just too valuable to only use once. So I would say, yes, this is expensive water, but we cannot afford not to have any water at all."

STORYLINE:
After using a toilet in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink in Ontario, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.
And coming soon: your kitchen faucet.
California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.
It's a big step for a state that has struggled for decades to have a reliable source of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that as recently as two decades ago prompted backlash that scuttled similar projects.




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