For many parts of the world – and, yes, even in the United States, the term waste-water is becoming obsolete. As global population continues to grow, the demands placed upon our environment will only get greater. And, since, I have added a recent post on freshwater, I thought it might be appropriate to balance the scale with a post about wastewater.
A recent article from The Hindu: There is No Such Thing as Waste-water, profiles the freshwater/wastewater demands of Bangalore, India. Bangalore is the capital of and is located on the Deccan Plateau in the southeastern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is India’s third most populous city. If you know anything about India, you know that it is the second most populous country in the world behind China and has many environmental challenges – as does China -as it must deal with the rising wealth of large portions of its population. With growth and rising levels of personal wealth come greater levels of consumption.
The article provides a useful overview of wastewater issues.
“A waste-water master plan, the appropriate location of the treatment plants, the creation of wetlands and water bodies are all what is needed. Bangalore has been the pioneer in many such initiatives and in cleaning up our environment it can be the leader too. In this lies water wisdom.”
But that is India. There are just some places around the world where we “expect” there will be issues of greater magnitude than we must address. Yet, the real focus of this post is not Bangalore, India but in California’s Silicon Valley. The article: Here, Drink A Nice Glass Of Sparkling Clear Wastewater offers just one example of the issues that many of the more arid regions of the United States (and other countries) must address. As with any change, there is resistance. And, there is/was plenty of resistance by area residents.
“In California’s Silicon Valley, there will soon be a new source of water for residents. That may not sound like big news, but the source of this water – while certainly high-tech — is raising some eyebrows.”
Imagine these changes being required in your community. How would you respond?
I believe the River Rhine has been drunk twelve times and the albeit shorter River Thames three times before they reach the North Sea. It is all in the mind of the beholder.