LIFE IN THE DESERT : H2O My

With San Diego County 90% dependent on water inported from Northern California and the Colorado River, it was only a matter of time and technology before officials there got adventurous in their quest for new suplies.

Before long, some San Diego residents may get their drinking water from, well, themselves. If the County Water Authority and the City of San Diego have their way; residents will soon be sipping reclaimed sewage water. It will be, says a spokesman, the first time processed waste water will be used for drinking without having first been diluted in a river.

“We will use a system of multiple barriers to ensure that repurified water is as safe--or safer--than current drinking water supplies,” notes Peter MacLaggan, the authority’sreclamation director. After that high-tech reconditioning, the water will be stored for a year in a reservior, then piped to a conventional treatment plant for further filtration and disinfection. It will then be delivered to consumers. By the year 2000, officials says, it will produce enough water to meet the needs of 40,000 four-person families.

Many communities throughout the country--including L.A. and Orange County use reclaimed water for irrigation and other purposes, though not for human consumption--yet. L.A.’s Metropolitan Water District is watching the project closely

San Diego officials acknowledge that sewage water, no matter how spruced up,is a hard sell.

Among the skeptics is plumber and pipe- fitter Eugene Spofera, who is crusading against the project. “I think it’s sick,”