万花筒2008-01-22:新水源：从马桶到水龙头（在线收听）

CNN's Kara Finnstrom reports on Orange County, California's latest source for water

Clean, clear water, it is in short supply here in Orange County, so any new source, like this one, is warmly welcome. That is, if you can get past where this water comes from.  

That's right, what's now destined to become Orange County's drinking water, started out as the sewer water, brown wastewater from toilets, dishwashers, bathtubs, you name it.  

"We've explained from the beginning, this is actually sewer water, that's been treated by the sanitation district, and then purified even more by us, till it's really uh, almost distilled water. "  

To do that, Orange County launched a first of its kind facility, a nearly half billion dollar reclamation plant that can turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day.  

It's gonna become a model for the entire world, uh, Singapore has already built a smaller version of our exact plant, and there are several others around the United States, that are, that are being planned.  

The plant runs sewage that would have been discharged to the sea through a 3-step purification process, first, it heads through micro-filters to sift out solid matter.  

Any solid particle, larger than, 1/300th the size of a human hair would remain on the outside. Then it runs through another filter to remove any viruses or pharmaceuticals, and finally, the water gets a purging bake in high intensity light, breaking down anything, that's left, the result?  

"Yeah" "how does it taste? ","Tastes like distilled water. ""How long ago was that sewage? ""Probably about 2 days ago. " 

Soon water officials won't be the only ones tasting it, this water will now mix with groundwater, and should run out of Orange County taps, in as little as 6 months. The water must meet safety standards. One environmental group has reservations about what they call the limits of such tests.  

Brings up concerns of, what we're looking for, what we're not looking for, what we don't know. While there is no doubt Southern California needs more water, some say this is a little hard to swallow. Even though, I know that they've uh, filtered it 3 times, it's just, just kind of creepy.  

But many say the benefits just may outweigh the creepiness. I think it's about time we recycled everything. That's due in part to a massive campaign, touting the benefits of less discharge to the sea, and more water for a thirsty Orange County.  

Kara Finnstrom for CNN, Orange County.