PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer took a look yesterday at how views on recycling sewage as a drinking water source differ between San Diego and Orange County.
It’s familiar ground if you’ve been following the debate here, but I hadn’t heard Jim Barrett’s explanation of why the city should spend its money elsewhere. (The argument made by Mayor Jerry Sanders, an opponent, has boiled down to issues of cost and public acceptance.) Barrett, the director of the city’s water and wastewater departments, told PBS:
I’ve still got 190 miles of cast-iron pipe out of the 3,400 miles I own. I’ve got to get that out of the ground first. I’ve got to finish my treatment plants first before I feel I have the ability to go look at things like unproven, untested, unwanted reclaimed drinking water.