Which Cities in West Texas Drink Poop Water?
Today, randomly, I ran across a Canadian Public Radio podcast that was talking about how citizens in El Paso had just “decided” they were O.K. drinking tap water that had been recycled from the sewage system. So, literally, poop water.
Here’s a quote from the story:
“So how does the manager of a water utility convince people that drinking their own waste is a good idea?”
Uhhhh….considering I’ve lived here for thirty years and this is the first I’m hearing about it, I guess the answer is “He doesn’t. You just switch the whole city over to toilet water but try to keep it on the down low.
Before you rush out to Sam’s and stock up on a 50 year supply of Dasani, let me be very clear: WE ARE NOT YET DRINKING POOP AND PEE WATER IN EL PASO!
But, according to the CBC report, we soon will be. AND, the huge majority of people are fine with it!
Speaking about the plan to someday have a “closed-loop water supply”…meaning all the water a city uses is recycled back into the water supply…former El Paso Water Utilities CEO Ed Archuleta said:
“More than 80% of residents” support the plan.
A couple of questions: when was this survey done? Why didn’t I get to take it? Is it too late to mark me down as an “AWWW, HELL NAH”?
The story brings up that for 50 years El Paso has been using recycled human waste to water city parks, school grounds and farm, as if that’s a good rationalization. But there’s a reason the water used at the municipal golf course that says “NON-POTABLE WATER!! DO NOT DRINK!!”
The title of this article posed a question about which cities in West Texas actually use “toilet to tap” recycling, as it’s known. That question shall not go unanswered! Here’s a list of cities in this part of the state that have some form of toilet to tap in place, along with the pertinent links:
(Hey, why does Big Spring need to use toilet water? Don’t they have a big spring?!?? The next thing you’re going to tell me is that Sweetwater’s water is actually kind of sour.)
More From KLAQ El Paso
