Residents in Arizona may be getting their water from an unlikely, and often thought unsanitary, place in the near future.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Equality’s 2017 proposal of legalizing “direct potable reuse,” often mocked as “toilet to tap,” was passed on Jan. 1, Bloomberg reports. The practice involves directly treating wastewater for drinking, and restrictions against the practice were lifted by the state at the start of the new year.
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According to Tuscon.com, direct reuse had been illegal in Arizona since 1982, but due to Colorado River shortages, a need for chance had been needed “sooner rather than later,” Tucson Water director Tim Thomure said.
But residents shouldn’t be expecting that “toilet to tap” water to be pouring from their faucets too soon. It is estimated that it will take several years for the plan to go into full effect, with outlier cities, situated in mountainous and rural areas, being the first to get it. These cities, where water resources and the ability to recharge water for future use are limited, could see the water in two to three years.
For those worried about the prospect of drinking water that was once sitting in a toilet, the Arizona Department of Environmental Eqaulity’s senior hydrologist, Chuck Graf, says not to worry.
“Frankly, if you go to direct potable reuse, the levels of treatment would rise immeasurably over what they are treating in drinking water. There will be multiple barriers, multiple safety factors.”
