Orange County Returns Water to Aquifer
Rural wastewater typically returns to the aquifer via a leech field, but not so in America's urban communities: every day, billions of gallons of fresh water are dumped into oceans and rivers.Orange County, California is changing that: they've built a reclamation system that will return 130 million gallons of water per day to the aquifer. Curently the city dumps 240 million gallons a day into the sea, so the new plant will reduce that by more than half. And other cities plan to follow suit, from San Diego to Singapore. (Tip: Polizeros.)
What's the big deal? 71% of the planet is covered with water, but just a very small percentage is drinkable. Only 0.9% exists as groundwater, and another 0.02% in freshwater lakes and waterways. More than 99% of the water on the planet is unavailable for drinking, with 97.2% as saltwater and 1.8% frozen in the ice caps.
According to Wiki, "40% of the world's inhabitants currently have insufficient fresh water for minimal hygiene." And every gallon of wastewater we dump into the ocean is freshwater lost from our dwindling supply.
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