Would You Drink Recycled Wastewater?

As Southern California has seen regional droughts affect its water supply, recycling water has become common practice.

Nearly 30 million gallons of sewage water in the area is treated and recycled a day, according to the West Basin Municipal Water District, which serves Hermosa Beach and other nearby communities.

The recycled water is used for non-drinking purposes, such as landscaping, and accounts for about 7 percent of the district's water supply.

But what if the South Bay used that water to drink?

Researchers in psychology and environmental sciences surveyed 2,695 people in California, Arizona, Oregon and Pennsylvania to measure their likeliness to drink certified-safe, recycled wastewater.

The study, titled "The Psychology of Water Reclamation and Reuse," was sponsored by the WateReuse Research Foundation and part of ongoing research that began in 2009.

About 38 percent of surveyed respondents said that they would be willing to drink certified-safe recycled water; 49 percent said that they were uncertain; and 13 percent said "no."

Now most of the water used in Hermosa Beach comes from:

1. the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in Northern California and melting snow in the Eastern Sierra Nevada;
2. the Colorado River Aqueduct brings water from the Lake Havasu reservoir on the California-Arizona border.

But what if you were asked to drink recycled wastewater? Could you not get over its origins or would you be willing to take a sip? 

Here is a two-part Patch series about water that published in April: