Basic HTML Version
How One Town
Salves Pollution
and Saves Water
Text and Photography by
Jerry Gentry
P
tCTURE
yourself in a tree–
srudded, aquaric park wirh
sparkling blue lakes and grassy
green slopes. You can picnic, fish for
bass or cake a Jeisurely boar ride.
Now imagine rhar chis beauriful
park líes only yards downsrream from
a sewage rrearmenr planr. Add ro chis
nearly incredible picrure a deserc ter–
rain wirh brown baked hillsides, and
only ren inches of rainfall annually.
This is a picrure of a remarkable
modero sewage rrearmem and water
reclamaríon projecr ar Sanree, Califor–
nia. This farsighred rown is known
worldwide. The srory of San ree is a
lesson for che whole world ro view. I r
is an illusrrarion of how a serious pol–
lurion problem can
be
solved.
Man-made " Miracle"
In 1959, Sanree was confronred
wirh an ecological crisis - and a
choice. l es rhen 14,500 cirizens used
privare sepric ran ks for individual
sewage disposal. The rown was g row–
ing. The sepric ranks rhrearened ro
overload che capaciry o f rhe ground
ro absorb wasres. Samee, like many
smaller rowns around che world, is lo–
cared wirhin rhe merropoliran arca of
a much larger California ciry, San
Diego. Governing bodies offered each
communiry wirhin rhe merropoliran
arca a choice:
(1) Join rhe newl y formed merro–
poliran sewage sysrem, or
(2) Build an individual rrearmenr
faciliry ro meer exisring pollurion
srandards.
30
If Sanree joined che rnerropoliran
sys rem, its sewage would be given pri–
mary rrearment o nly, rhen discharged
inro the Pacific Ocean, sorne rwenry
miles disrant.
Sanree planners were nor excired
abour joining rhe merropolican sys–
rem for a number of reasons. Firsr,
any coses ro Sanree would accrue only
a single benefir: rhe removal of sew–
age from Sanree's premises. On rhe
other hand, Sanree leaders envisioned
many addirional benefirs from build–
ing rheir own unique rrearmenr plant.
T his plam would nor only render
sewage "harmless." Ir would acrually
purify che wasre water enough for
reuse.
Ir
would also creare markerable
produces from che sewage.
Reclaiming irs sewage water would
acruaJiy enable Sanree ro exrend rhe
usable water supply. And since rhe
cose for imporring all irs water from
the Colorado Ri ver was more rhan
doubling every decade, water reclama–
rion made dollar sense, as well. With
no local water avai lable, and rainfall a
scanry ren inches per year, Sanree
planners felt that rhey had ro in–
augurare their own water reclamarion
scheme.
Ci
rizens and planners here are con–
vinced rhar ir makes more sense (and
dollars) ro clean up rhan ro pollure.
In facr, chis rown of over 20,000
people now enjoys many benefirs
from having a modero warer reclama–
rion program which solves its sewage
disposal problem, exrends irs water
(Text continued on page 35)