A growing number of cities and counties grappling with water shortages are turning to a solution that may be tough for some homeowners to stomach: purifying wastewater so that residents can drink it...
...Public opinion of wastewater reuse can shift when people are presented with more details. In a September 2007 survey conducted by the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, 50% of the 1,000 adults in San Diego County who were polled said they opposed turning wastewater into drinking water. Forty-four percent said they supported it, and 6% said they were unsure.
Respondents who weren't strongly committed one way or the other were then presented with an additional piece of information: San Diego gets more of its water supply from the Colorado River than anywhere else. The river gets 400 million gallons of treated wastewater discharged into it each day. That means residents are already drinking treated wastewater.
The survey shows that 64% of these "swing" respondents said they were "more inclined to support" turning wastewater into drinking water. "We found that if just a little bit more education goes on, people's opinion is malleable," says Erik Bruvold, president and chief executive of the San Diego research firm.
