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Drought In California

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All California residents are familiar with the statewide drought that began in 2012. Effects of it can be seen in day-to-day life in decreased rainfall, billboards and laws encouraging conservation, front lawns being replaced with drought resistant landscapes and little reason to take a ski trip during the winter months due to lack of snowfall. Water recharge has decreased due to the decline in precipitation in the past two and a half years, leaving California with a huge need to properly manage its water.
According to Nature, consequences of the long-term drought are increased seasonal wild fires and destruction to ecosystems throughout California. Southern California felt the negative effects of dry vegetation during the series of fires …show more content…
The EPA also states that, “there have not been any documented cases of human health problems due to contact with recycled water that has been treated to standards”. Different than gray water, wastewater recycling filters and treats water before it is reused. There are different suggestions for how to use water treated at different standards. For example, water treated at a low level may not be appropriate for groundwater recharge while water treated at a higher level might …show more content…
Instead, recycled wastewater is self-sufficient in which it functions in a closed loop system that continuously converts water from clean to dirty to clean rather than discarding the water once it becomes contaminated. California currently relies mainly on local surface water and imported water, which are extremely dependent on precipitation rates. Another source of water that is independent of climate is desalination, however, it creates very salty water that can be harmful to aquatic life. The brine discharged from desalination plants can make the water in the surrounding area so salty that fish and other aquatic animals can’t live in it. Desalination is also much more expensive than wastewater recycling. According to Renee Cho in “From Wastewater to Drinking Water,” treating and reusing wastewater, “costs $800-$850 to produce enough recycled water for 2 families of 4 for a year. Desalinating an equal amount of seawater would require $1,200-$1,800 because of the amount of energy needed.” Treating wastewater for reuse is significantly cheaper than desalinating ocean water. Since this it is cheaper to recycle water than it is to desalinate it, it can be assumed that California residents would pay less for recycled water compared to desalinated water. With the money on recycled wastewater’s side, Californians

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