Tampa May Use Toilet Water as Drinking Water

This is NASTY! I guess Swine Flu will have a greater outbreak in
Tampa than any other city in the state of Florida. Someone needs
to call EPA on this.Wm H

TAMPA -- The City of Tampa is considering using recycled sewage water for drinking water. Every day the city dumps 55 million gallons of treated sewage water back into the bay, and Council member Charlie Miranda says it is an absolute waste.

Miranda wants to have the sewage water, which now goes to the Howard Curran treatment plant at the Port of Tampa, go through two more processes that it currently under goes. The plant would send the sewage water through reverse osmosis and intense ultra violet processing. After the added processes, the treated sewage water would be piped to the Hillsborough River where it would eventually flow to the David Tippin treatment plant. At the Tippin Plant, the treated sewage water, which by now would have mixed with the Hillsborough River water, Tampa's water supply, would be treated one more time and then sent to people's water taps.

The major hurdle for the plan is getting past the yuck factor and getting people to feel comfortable drinking treated sewage water. We showed a yellow water sample and a clear sample to Tampa water customers and asked if they would drink the treated sewage, and everyone we talked to said absolutely not.

However when explained the yellow sample was from the Hillsborough River and reminded them it was Tampa's water supply and told them the clear sample was treated sewage water, they were shocked.

Because the proposal is so controversial, Miranda says he would allow Tampa water customers to vote on the issue in 2011, rather than city council mandating the change.

Council will hold a two hour work shop in February to decide what to do about the proposal.