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This story is the second part of a five-part radio series on water conservation in collaboration with KUER, KUNC, KJZZ and the Mountain West News Bureau
Between Growing Populations and climate change, our water sources are only expected to be crunched. Communities in some very arid states have had to be creative about water supply, sometimes purifying wastewater in drinking water. More and more Western cities are starting to join it. But there is a problem: the factor "ick"
Paul Rozin has spent the last decades testing what lies behind the feeling of disgust.
The psychologist from the University of Pennsylvania asked people to drink a glass of water. sterilized cockroach dipped in and drinking apple juice from a basin. In an experiment, he asked people if they would put on a sweater that Hitler had worn.
"And almost everyone says" no, "says Rozin.
Rozin asked them a few more questions: What would you say? well cleaned the sweater? Or dyed to look completely different? Or even unraveled the thread and done in a new one? So, they would put it?
"And most people do not want to have anything to do with it, even if you do all that," he says.
But there was something that could lead people to reconsider: Mother Teresa. If Mother Teresa first put on the sweater, some people would take it too. In a way, his kindness would undo Hitler's wickedness.
This study might resemble the substance of academic ivory towers. But, says Brent Haddad,
A water resources economist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, "It has really attracted the attention of the water industry."
It was the late 90s in California. Haddad says water engineers have found incredible ways to turn sewage – anything that flows into sewers, sinks and toilets – into clean, drinkable water. It was almost like they had found a way to turn waste into gold.
"The industry had reached this point where it had identified technologies, methods and regulatory approaches that could provide recycled water to the public, and Haddad was attending many meetings of the I & # 39; He says that engineers complained "with some emotion in their voices" of an unexpected and seemingly insurmountable obstacle: human psychology.
The engineers of the 39 water at the end of the century faced an apparently insurmountable obstacle public: human psychology
A major problem was that people associated recycled water with excrement slogans like "tap toilets", invented by opponents of water recycling, Haddad reached out to Rozin to understand how they could overcome people's lack of vigilance.
"And he was the man of the situation, "says Ha ddad
Together, Rozin and Haddad conducted a series of water studies. Here's what they found.
"There are two strategies, one is to tell them that they have been drinking water all their life," says Rozin. "The water of your toilet goes down to the ocean, as well as everyone's toilet water, and then she comes back in the rain. "
And what does he say, do you think that water Many of them are simply treated by sewage from upstream cities.
But this tactic – the tactics of the entire world – is rude – does not work for everyone. 39 others need help to ignore the raw past of water. "Haddad says we do this mental trick all the time, like when we sleep in a hotel room.
"There is a good chance that this pillow is in places and in contact and that it has terrible experiences. "In our head, we tell ourselves that the cleaning team has arrived and that now everything is clean," he says, "and we sleep perfectly on this bed. We explain to people how cleaning water can have a similar effect, especially if you insist that treated wastewater often returns to a natural place, such as an aquifer or aquifer. stream, and mix with the other water there before retiring and retire again to the quality of drinking water. The process is called "indirect drinking reuse," and it is already used by some cities across the United States, although the Environmental Protection Agency claims that only 7% of wastewater effluents produced each day in the United States are recycled.
not extra in nature is not necessary. Existing technology can make wastewater immediately and safe, as is the case on the International Space Station in Windhoek, Namibia and some Texas cities. In fact, he says, treated wastewater is often cleaner than the water that mixes it in aquifers and watercourses. But the idea that water spends time in nature helps people to ignore its less attractive past, just as they can ignore the past of the hotel room
"People can easily say: "Oh, well, I'm taking things cool" he said.
Since 2009, astronauts aboard the Space Station international have drank recycled water directly from sweat, respiration and urine.The "direct drinking reuse", as the so called closed loop system, is used only in certain places of the planet, notably in Big Spring in Texas and Windhoek in Namibia. (PHOTO: NASA)
Another thing that helps is to show people that it's safe by pointing to other people who are drinking purified sewage, such as astronauts, whose drinking water comes from their clean breath, their sweat and their urine. said Haddad. "Otherwise, they do not go there."
An urgent need can speed up the process, as in the case of Windhoek in Namibia and Big Spring in Texas. Both experienced severe droughts that led local authorities to declare water crises. In 2011, Texas experienced the worst drought in the history of the state. In Big Spring, Haddad says, "They were getting to the point where they were planning how to close the city." So, they turned to recycling their wastewater.
Austa Parker, Water Reuse Technologist The engineering firm Carollo Engineers hopes that state residents like Colorado are adopting recycled water reuse – that's what they are doing. it is indirect or direct – before they reach such a radical turning point.
"We must do that. If we continue to see the decline in water supply over time and continue to see population increases in some areas, we will need more water afterwards, "he says. she
. water recycling. The group teamed up with Denver Water to set up a demonstration space where Parker spent a few months showing people the process of water purification and tasting water samples. she simply calls "purified water")
the demo is over, Parker took the remaining purified water and brought it to the company brewing statement
in Denver. Although there is not a single antidote to Mother Teresa for recycled water, the beer is quite close.
At Declaration Brewing Company in Denver, a Pilsner called "Centurion" is made with recycled water reuse demonstration. (PHOTO: Courtesy of Declaration Brewing Company)
A Pilsner called Centurion, made from recycled water, is already available there
"It's a very crisp, refreshing, clean, pleasant and dry finish. Exactly what you expect from A very classic example of American Pilsner, "says brewery founder Mike Blandford sipping a glass of Centurion.
Blandford and his colleagues at Declaration Brewing want to help people prepare for that future. have urgent needs like in Big Spring, Texas. Soften them gently with a recycled Pilsner could do the trick.
"The water is the only one. water. Denver Water's spokespersons say the city could drink salvaged water in about 40 years. The surrounding municipalities of Aurora and Parker are already recycling wastewater into drinking water indirectly. The nearby town of Castle Rock is in the process of renovating its water treatment plant which is expected to allow indirect reuse by 2020.
Mark Marlowe, director of Castle Rock Water, says the town receives currently about 80% of its groundwater in the Denver Basin,
"We depleted it faster than it was reconstituted," he says.
The city began studying renewable water options about 10 years ago, boosted by drought. it has less water rights than the old municipalities like Denver. Marlowe says Castle Rock is preparing to be like Big Spring, Texas
"The improvements we design for our water plan are the same improvements as if we were to do a direct potable reuse," says Marlowe.
He points out that with indirect reuse, the city could risk losing much of its water during a drought period by including this extra step of spilling water into a creek that is in drying out
. we want to be able to make direct drinking reuse, "says Marlowe. "If you have a severe drought, it's much more reliable."
This story is part of a collaborative series of the Colorado River Reporting Project at KUNC, supported by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation, the Mountain West News Bureau, and Elemental: Covering Sustainability, a new multimedia collaboration between public radio and television stations in the West, supported by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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