CALIFORNIA BECOMES 2ND STATE TO OK RULES FOR TURNING WASTEWATER INTO DRINKING WATER
When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places: An ice skating rink in Ontario, ski slopes around Lake Tahoe, farmland in the Central Valley.
And — coming soon — kitchen faucets. California regulators on Tuesday approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses. It's a big step for a state that has struggled for decades to have a reliable source of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that as recently as two decades ago prompted backlash that scuttled similar projects. Since then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists say was the driest three-year period on record and left the state's reservoirs at dangerously low levels.
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