Finally! Here’s a great discussion about potable reuse of wastewater and how we at the vanguard of water environmental issues can start using basic psychology (psychological contagion) both to promote recycling wastewater back into drinking water and to de-emphasize ocean water desalination.
For the past several decades companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Perrier have been successful in convincing us consumers that we are blessed to be able to be drinking brown-colored sugar (or artificial sweetner) water or even “bottled water” (which is usually just municipal drinking water anyway), in cans and plastic containers that are themselves toxic. How is it that we have not been able to convince the public that drinking wastewater recycled potable water (which has been processed through even more rigorous scrubbing technology than “bottled water”) is better or at least equal to ocean desalination? This wonderful NPR article bares some of the underlying psychological barriers to this conundrum.
Quick update: Here’s another great article in today’s news about potable reuse in San Diego. Go SD!
