Poll: Would You Be Willing to Drink Treated Wastewater?

According to a study recently released by the National Research Council, “the risk of exposure to certain microbial and chemical contaminants from drinking reclaimed water does not appear to be any higher than the risk experienced in at least some current drinking water treatment systems.”

Exposure to chemical contaminants in treated wastewater “may be orders of magnitude lower” than water currently in use in some parts of the country.

The report was sponsored by the U.S. EPA and several Southern California municipal water authorities.

To meet demand for increasing populations and potential impact from climate change, treated wastewater may be less a matter of preference and more one of necessity in the future.

This is especially true in densely populated and dry Southern California. The Colorado River is being sucked dry and snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains reported record low numbers so far this year.

Orange County began providing treated wastewater declared safe to drink in 2007.

So what do you think? For the truly passionate, feel free to elaborate and post a  comment.