CALIFORNIA IS SET TO BECOME 2ND STATE TO OK RULES FOR TURNING WASTEWATER INTO DRINKING WATER

When a toilet is flushed in California, the water can end up in a lot of places - the ice in a skating rink, the manufactured snow on ski slopes, in pipes providing irrigation for farmland. And - coming soon - in your drinking glass.

California regulators on Tuesday are set to vote on new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools and businesses.

It's a big step for a state that has struggled for decades to have a reliable source of drinking water for its more than 39 million residents. And it signals a shift in public opinion on a subject that as recently as two decades ago prompted backlash that scuttled similar projects.

Since then, California has been through multiple extreme droughts, including the most recent one that scientists say was the driest three-year period on record and left the state’s reservoirs at dangerously low levels.

“Water is so precious in California. It is important that we use it more than once,” said Jennifer West, managing director of WateReuse California, a group advocating for recycled water.