The Psychology And Science Behind Drinking Recycled Water

For my research evaluating the psychology and science behind drinking recycled water, I reviewed Collignon’s speech to understand a viewpoint of opponents against the use of supplementing the drinking water supply with pure recycled water. In his speeches, Collignon presents four major reasons why he believes recycled drinking water is high risk and why it should be used as a last resort. He states that it is a â€Å"bad option for the environment not only because of the waste but the energy consumption as well, it is needless money spent, he does not believe that adequate monitoring and testing exists to ensure safety, and it is a bad option for people’s health because of the increased risk. Although he states that his stance is not one†¦show more content†¦Collignon believes the environment will be contaminated by the sewage if it is placed upstream from the drinking supply. The concept of being downstream from a drinking supply with contaminants exists for every occupant on this Earth, which is why there are catchment areas for water to be sanitized for drinking. Collignon believes the energy consumption used to treat the water will leave a larger carbon footprint on the environment. Collignon fails to cite the low-carbon energy sources and technology available. The United Kingdom Environment Agency has developed a plan to reduce all carbon emission produced by their water processing plants by 80% (Ainger). Charles Ainger of the Environment Agency outlines â€Å"energy recovery through on site small-scale, low-head, hydro schemes, and insists it may provide a carbon efficient means of meeting demand and maintaining a low carbon approach.† Ainger’s schemes include â€Å"adsorbents and catalysts that can be regenerated using sunlight, low pressure self cleaning chemical free membrane systems, and energy monitoring that automatically optimizes and processes decisions based on energy/chemical usage and carbon production.â⠂¬  These same