Mayor says NO to drinking recycled sewage ...

Toowoomba?

No, San Diego.

Where a previous toilet-to-tap planned was shelved in 1999.

The plan has been raised again with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders saying he won't support a plan to turn wastewater into drinking water.

An excerpt:

Sanders Wants to Flush Water Reclamation Plans

By Sam Hodgson

19 July 2006

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders won't support a plan to turn wastewater into drinking water, giving a political boost to opponents of a city effort to feed its water reservoirs with filtered, treated sewage.

Sanders’ decision is the latest move in a decade-long battle over plans to reclaim flushed sewage as potable water.

Proponents say it is safe way for the city to lesser its reliance on outside water sources.

But critics deride it as a "toilet-to-tap" treatment that threatens public health.

City staffers have been examining the controversial issue for more than a year, studying its safety and financial feasibility. They've produced a lengthy report that summarizes six proposals to diversify the city's water supply.

Four include plans to turn sewage into drinking water -a concept that sputtered out once in San Diego in the 1990s. The study heads to the City Council's Natural Resources and Culture Committee July 26.

...

"This issue has come up previously before the council," Sainz said.

"In fact, it's come up on a number of occasions and the council received a very strong point of view from the public that they were unilaterally opposed to it.

“The mayor believes that this has been resolved, that this has been settled.”

...

But long-time opponent Bruce Henderson, a former City Councilman, said water reclamation is still a financially unsound concept that irresponsibly experiments with public health.

The cost of treating the water will be exorbitant, he said, affecting the poor, who will pay with both their health and their pocketbooks.

"Are we talking about economic racism?" Henderson said. "The answer is 'Of course we are.' They intend to be using this process and putting reclaimed toilet water into our drinking water. The affluent portion of our society, they can opt out of this health experiment. They can just drink bottled water."

He said it is simply a matter of public support.

Source - Voice of San Diego - Sanders Wants to Flush Water Reclamation Plans.