Mr. Latimer,
Thanks for bringing to our attention the massive project in LA to turn sewage back into drinking water.
I must say that people should be less concerned about picking up a dangerous infections disease (the treatment of sludge is accompanied by heavy use of chlorine and/or ultraviolet light to disable bacteria and viruses) and more concerned about the fact that many of our treatment facilities lack the ability to remove the massive amount of pharmaceuticals and drugs people are on. A lot of treated water being released into the environment contains high levels of anti-depressants, birth control hormones, diabetes medication, anti-inflammatory medications, blood pressure medication…The list goes on and on.
We need only to look at what these drugs have done to the lowest in the ecosystem, creating frogs and fish that are both male and female and in some cases wiping out populations, as they are unable to reproduce.
Imagine our children drinking this water. – S.R.
HJL adds: Treatment against waterborne diseases is very effective using modern methods, but failures do occur, and given the population density of LA, any failure at any time is intolerable and probably leads to an epidemic. I am also unaware of any modern methods to treat drinking water for the drugs, hormones, and/or medications. This is just a terrible idea from the start.