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May 07, 2007

CA city permit meets drinking water standards, but not salinity limits

The City of Tracy, CA is expected to get its state water quality permit despite its failure to meet state salinity discharge limits, the Tracy Press reported May 3. Dispensation was granted reflecting the fact that the intake levels exceed the discharge standard. The City is actually discharging water back to the river which meets all state drinking water standards and is cleaner than the river itself. Like most online news stories, this invited comments. Chimed in "bob owens":

What people tend to forget is that once salt is separated from water, whether it's fresh or wastewater effluent, it has to be disposed somewhere. However, once it's a separate stream by itself, everyone treats it like they treat sludge (not in my backyard). So what's an easy answer to reducing salt. There is none!

Gotcha!

May 04, 2007

Satin IDs technologies to purify salt-contaminated water

"More than a third of the world's population lives in regions facing significant water shortages in the next half-century," explains Salt Institute director of technical and regulatory affairs Mort Satin in an article ("A Glass Half Full") in the April issue of Water Conditioning & Purification. The article discusses technologies coming online that can reclaim salt-contaminated water, returning it to use for drinking water and other higher-quality uses.