Know Your H2O
Most of us don’t think twice when we turn on the faucet to grab to get a glass of water or use the hose to water our gardens. We take for granted that the water will be flowing and that it will be clean and safe to drink. Those simple acts are made possible by an incredible chain of events that links our entire state with our oceans and drives some of the key environmental issues of our time. Clean drinking water is one of the most rare and precious resources on the earth, yet we typically use it with little regard. Following a drop of our water from its origin, through its use to its disposal reveals an expensive and often wasteful journey and makes it clear we could be using water more wisely. Fortunately, we can alter this pattern by using the classic mantra reduce, reuse and recycle to fundamentally reduce our water consumption and solve ocean pollution issues at the same time.
The Cycle of Insanity - The Real Story of Water
Order the Cycle of Insanity DVD
Download the Cycle of Insanity script here
Learn more about the issues discussed in The Cycle of Insanity
Water Imports - Southern California
January 27 2012
Leatherback Sea Turtles Get Protection Along West Coast
Coastal Preservation Know Your H20 Desalination Ocean Ecosystems Rise Above Plastics
Regulators designated nearly 42,000 square miles of ocean on the West Coast as critical habitat for endangered leatherback sea turtles, protecting them from ocean-related development projects and pollution.
January 24 2012
Sewer Mining - Weird Term but an Idea That Makes Sense
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
In the area around Sydney, Australia, several private organizations have found a new dependable source of water for irrigation and other non-potable uses - the sewer. The idea is to tap into sewer lines, treat the water to make it suitable for irrigation, and thereby save drinking water for - drinking.
January 12 2012
Don’t Waste Water: Recycle Wastewater
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
The National Research Council has just released a report that clarifies what we already knew, using marginally more energy in the treatment process can purify our wastewater so that it’s safe to drink, and do it at a fraction of the cost of ocean desalination or importing freshwater long distances.
December 23 2011
Surfrider Foundation Briefs the Appellate Court for Marine Life Protection
Know Your H20 Desalination Legal
On December 28, 2011, Surfrider Foundation filed an appellate brief articulating our opposition to the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board’s approval of the Carlsbad Desalination Plant without proper analyses of the appropriate site, design, and technology that would minimize harm to coastal resources. Additionally, the project approval allowed for after-the-fact mitigation of marine life mortality instead of before-the-fact minimization of such harm, as called for by the state’s water protection law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act.
December 19 2011
Santa Monica, CA: Ocean Park Boulevard Green Street Project
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
The Ocean Park community and City of Santa Monica celebrate the groundbreaking of the Ocean Park Boulevard Green Street Project. A community member expresses perfectly the long term vision that the KYH2O program is trying to grow in coastal communities.
December 09 2011
Know Your H2O Principles in Statement to Congress
Water expert Dr. Peter Gleick testified before Congress recently and presented nine targeted recommendations for fundamental change in federal water policy. Several of these recommendations, in particular numbers 1, 2 and 6, are consistent with the themes of our Know Your H2O program as expressed in our Cycle of Insanity video.
October 04 2011
Los Angeles Adopts Low Impact Development Ordinance
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
After several years of advocacy by the environmental community, Los Angeles, California finally passed a LID ordinance to restore some natural watershed functions to developed urban areas.
September 19 2011
San Diego’s Water Purification Demonstration Project Wins Award
The WateReuse Association has recognized San Diego’s Water Purification Demonstration Project for the “2011 WateReuse Public Education Program of the Year Award." Along with examining the use of advanced water purification technology to potentially provide safe and reliable water for San Diego’s future (at less cost and with less environmental impacts than seawater desalination), the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department has embarked on a program to educate residents about the Demonstration Project by offering free public tours of the Advanced Water Purification Facility, speaker presentations to interested groups and opportunities to learn about the Demonstration Project at community events throughout San Diego.
August 19 2011
LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST CARLSBAD DESALINATION CONTINUES AS POSEIDON IS STILL SEARCHING FOR FUNDING
Know Your H20 Desalination Legal
On August 18, 2011, Surfrider filed an appeal from a June decision by Judge Judith F. Hayes of the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. In pursuing legal actions such as this one, Surfrider is striving to promote and achieve the goals of our Know Your H2O program . There are many opportunities for increased conservation and reuse of wastewater that can be had before it would be necessary to turn to an inefficient water supply method such as ocean desalination. Compared to wastewater recycling, for example, the CDP is likely to use five times more water (with a large waste flow) and twice as much energy to produce the same amount of drinking water.
July 25 2011
Wastewater Recycling Expands in Texas
Both reclaimed water systems (treated wastewater used for irrigation) and potable reuse systems are expanding in the Fort Worth area and throughout the state of Texas. Although this is partially in response to the current drought, it makes sense even in non-drought times. In Big Spring, a local water authority plans to break ground within the next few months on a $13 million treatment plant that will send about 2 million gallons per day of wastewater that has been extensively treated back into the regular water system that serves Big Spring, Snyder, Odessa and Midland.
July 12 2011
Wastewater Recycling - College Students Get It
A recent opinion piece in San Diego State University's Daily Aztec by senior Randy Wilde points out the multiple advantages of operating the Water Purification Demonstration Project and potentially building a larger-scale version of this facility to establish a reliable, local drinking water supply at a lower cost than ocean desalination. In addition to the benefits that Randy cites, an Indirect Potable Reuse system would also benefit ocean water quality.
June 30 2011
Illegal Wastewater Discharges in Maui
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Quality
The Surfrider Foundation joins other community groups in filing a notice of intent to sue the County of Maui to force them to comply with the Clean Water Act and get the needed discharge permits to continue injecting their wastewater into the island's groundwater.
June 15 2011
LA to Follow OC’s Lead on Wastewater Recycling
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is following the lead of Orange County in implementing both and Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) system and an expansion of their "purple pipe" reclaimed water system.
June 09 2011
Pollution Prevention System at UC San Diego Wins Awards
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
An innovative pollution prevention system at UC San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography has won awards from engineering societies and garnered kudos from a regulatory agency.
May 18 2011
LID in Action in San Francisco
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
The City of San Francisco and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency broke ground last week on the Newcomb Avenue Streetscape Model Block Improvement Project, a first of its kind project to transform a street block into one of the most sustainable streets in San Francisco. The pilot streetscape improvement project will replace significant areas of concrete with new landscaping and introduce stormwater planters and permeable pavers to allow rainwater to permeate into the ground,
May 16 2011
Wastewater Recycling Advances in San Diego County
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
An article published in the San Diego Union Tribune today discusses plans for wastewater recycling projects throughout San Diego County and the growing public acceptance of this practice. From the article: "More than half of the region’s major water districts are planning or exploring expansions of recycled water use. Projects on tap include a $11.8 million demonstration project in San Diego city to turn wastewater into potable water that goes live in June and an emerging alliance of several North County agencies that are seeking federal money to help pay for their $175 million strategy."
May 13 2011
Shut Your Tap!
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
We were pleased to see a great blog post from Chad Reese, who is an MBA candidate in Sustainable Management at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. Chad points out the wasted energy and misspent resources (not to mention the pollution impacts to the ocean) from leaving your tap running (or wasting water in other ways). Chad's post also links to information about our Cycle of Insanity video (now available on YouTube) and our Indirect Potable Reuse campaign in San Diego. Thanks Chad!
May 09 2011
Poop to Power in Orlando
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
While we've blogged a lot on closing the wastewater loop via indirect potable reuse and reclaimed water use, there has been less attention paid to the solid side of things. Traditionally, "biosolids" have been utilized as soil amendments and have occasionally been used as a supplemental fuel in such industrial processes as cement kilns. Now comes word out of Florida of a new "supercritical water oxidation" process that uses oxygen at high temperatures and pressure to destroy the organic solids.
April 27 2011
Increased Water Self-Sufficiency in the Northwest
Two recent articles pointed out efforts in the Northwest to increase water recycling and thereby increase water self-sufficiency. In Oregon, the Department of Environmental Quality is developing proposed rules for the reuse of graywater, or non-potable water. In Washington, an elementary school in Seattle is taking the bold step of attempting to unplug from the municipal water and sewer system to collect, recycle and reuse water and wastewater on site, a concept often referred to as net zero water.
April 05 2011
We Can Capture More Stormwater
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
A recent Op-Ed by Richard Atwater, executive director of the Southern California Water Committee, makes the point that we can capture up to 1 million acre-feet of stormwater per year (double the current amount), significantly enhancing local supplies, reducing reliance on imported sources, and reducing pollution that flows to the ocean.
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