A tough plan to stomach

Make no mistake: A plan in the works to ensure Huntington Beach’s

future drinking water supply is a tough one to swallow. It’s an idea

that obviously will take some getting used to, and one that raises

legitimate questions about safety standards.

The $600-million plan being proposed by the Orange County Water

District would convert 150-million gallons of treated sewage water

each day into potable water, for use both in the tap and to keep

seawater from entering the area’s underground aquifer. It could

provide water for 144,000 families for a year, officials say.

Exactly our thoughts. Drinking sewage water? Are times that

desperate?

Officials with the water district say, no -- not yet. But the

water supply is reaching capacity, and as everyone knows Orange

County’s population is only getting bigger.

That leaves the next, even more obvious question: How can this

possibly be safe?

Officials insist the three-part purification system will meet the

toughest standards. “We have to meet higher standards than bottled

water,” district spokesman Ron Wildermuth told the Independent.

It first will involve microfiltration, which captures small

particles, bacteria and some viruses. The next step, reverse osmosis,

will force the water through a tiny membrane to break up the

molecules, removing the smallest pieces of salt and debris, while

only allowing smaller water molecules to pass through. Finally, the

water will be exposed to ultraviolet light to kill any organisms that

might have made it through.

All that is reassuring. The trouble is that systems can falter or

break down. The water district will also have to assure residents of

Huntington Beach and the county that safeguards are in place in case

of a mishap.

That message most likely will be a hard sell, as will the more

overarching one to get people comfortable with knowing where their

water came from. It will take more than public relations photos of

district leaders drinking the water themselves, or other such stunts.

But by all accounts, such extreme measures are the only ways this

area will be able to handle the influx of people who -- for all the

reasons we know so well -- want to move here. And that’s a reality

that isn’t about to change, whether we can stomach it.