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Not only has it taken the pollution out of dish
washing and toilet flushing, but it has extended the
water supply, as well."
(Continuedfrom page
30)
supply, and gives everybody a nice
place for fishing, swimming and pic–
nicking.
"Sewer Creek" T oday
Today, Sanree may be tbe only city
in the world with a city park built as–
tride a "sewer creek." But don't mis–
undersrand. Sanree's "sewer creek''
runs deaner and purer than many nat–
ural streams frequented by man. San–
ree's sewer-turned-pure is tbe result of
an efficient, three-step, sewage-trear–
menr process wbicb removes nearly
everytbing from sewage, leaving only
clean warer.
(See
accompanying
photos and caprions.)
To dean up a sewer would be an
unrbinkable, seemingly impossible
task - for most communiries. In
fact, even che thought of a "sewer"
brings negarive reacrions from most
people.
But nor for Sanree. Here in che
desen foorbills of Sourhern Califor–
nia, chis small community has worked
a modero tecbnological wonder in
pollution control. Not only has San–
tee taken rhe pollurion out of dish–
washing and roilet flushl.ng , but it has
a!so extended irs water supply, as
well. Only a
few
other communities
anywhere in rbe world operare suc–
cessful water reclamation and sewage
rrearmenr programs.
Acrually, water reclamarion and
proper sewage trearment go band in
hand. Complete sewage rrearmenr -
wherher by natural decay in the soil
or by man's tecbnological processes
- produces clcan water and nutrients
for plant growth as end produces.
Wbereas narure recycles wastes in che
soil, the Santee process uses tech–
nological mean s ro separare sus·
PLAIN TRUTH Jonvory 1973
pended and dissolved wasres from
water.
Sewage- A Raw Material
Santee planners initially wondered:
"Can waste water be redaimed on a
large scale?" As faces were garhered,
they began to believe water could be
purified and reused on the scale they
envisioned. They realized that sewage
is not a totally undesirable subsrance.
In reality, it contains valuable raw
marerials. Santee leaders envisioned
the creation of marketable produces
from waste water. Municipal sewage
is mostly water - a marketable prod–
uce when sufficiently purified. Sewage
solids make high-grade soil condi–
tioners and plant fertilizers valuable
to gardeners, horticul turists and farm–
ers, as long as the sewage is free from
heavy metals and other industrial
wastes. (T hese pollutants escape re–
moval by even the most advanced
sewage treatment facilities.) Santee
has not found heavy metals and orher
unextractable industrial polluranrs in
its raw sewage. Orher cities would
need ro require rhar nonbiological
wasres be processed separarely and
never be released inro the public sew–
age system.
T he " Once-over " Treatmen t
Pinched berween biological neces–
sity and sewage disposal cosr, rhe vasr
majority of modero cities give rheir
waste water a quick "once-over" rreat–
ment, rhen pipe rhe effiuenr ro rhe
nearesr srream, river or large body of
water for dilution. This mechod of
sewage disposal is called "primary''
treatment. Mosr cities throughour the
world use only primary sewage treat–
ment, if any ar al!. Of course, primary
treatment is the quickesr, least ex–
pensive - and one of the least satis-
factory - means of ridding a
community of its waste.
Piping sewage into a nearby water–
course does nor make the sewage "go
away." Ir is a su re rneans of polluting
sorneone else's water supply.
Little thought is given by most
cornmunities ro considering the ef–
fecrs of- their acrions on orhers.
Humans seldom apply Jesus' Golden
Rule: "do unto others as you would
have them do unto you," in regard ro
rnundane matters such as sewage dis–
posal. If they did, they would never
think of dumping wastes upon
others, either individually or collec–
tively. Unfortunately, man too often
takes the modified escape route of
"do unto others what they do unto
you - only
do
it
first.l"
Tbis attitude has historie precedenr
in sewage disposal. Over rwo thou–
sand years ago, Rome was flushing its
untreated sewage into the Tiber
River. Part of
chis
sewage system,
called rhe Cloaca Maxima, still exists.
And today? The same attitude is
exhibited nearly everywhere!
H ow H as l t W orked ?
Today, the Santee project has
proved itself ro be a model for mod–
ero sewage treatment planes. No pol–
lution results from the process, and
sorne two million gallons of raw sew–
age are processed every day. Re–
claimed water is available for many
uses.
Representatives from over 40
counrries have visited the projecr. In–
deed, it is a sensible rnodel for any
rown atrempring ro stretch its water
supply while solving a major cause of
pollution. The Sanree project pictures
rhe kind of resource consciousness
necessary for a clean world of rhe fu–
cure. O
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