In response to Dr Mc Gowan's piece; First of all I'm not a fan of direct application of reclaimed wastewater (ww) on food crops. That being said, I have some issues with the case he presents. The Kirby-Bauer is a test which uses antibiotic-impregnated wafers to test whether particular bacteria are susceptible to specific antibiotics. Are the 11 bacteria types pathogenic? we aren't told. Most bacteria are benign to human health and may in fact some are essential to our health. Obviously anything 'surviving' ww chlorination will be chlorine resistent. However there is no "Standard Methods" procedure for the Kirby-Bauer and unless these samples were taken and preserved using appropriate procedures, the analytical results aren't telling you anything. Potable water or even distilled water taken out of an agricultural environment will be loaded with bacteria (which is ubiquitous in our environment). How did Santa Paula get into your article? They don't reclaim wastewater for crops or anything else. Their effluent doesn't meet 'Basin Plan Objectives' due to the chloride loading from residential water softeners. "... As it now stands, industrial waste is discharged to sewers, which causes the liability that would accrue to such toxic materials" Yes, industrial wastewater is discharged to sewers and the Pretreatment Regulations of the Clean Water Act ensure those POTWs, their personnel and the receiving waters are protected from toxic loads and hazardous levels of a panoply of constituents thru the oversite of the State and the EPA. In California, it is illegal to discharge hazardous waste to the sewer and every POTW with a discharge permit has a Pretreatment/ Industrial Waste Program to insure it isn't.
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Posted on December 22 at 10:27 a.m.
In response to Dr Mc Gowan's piece; First of all I'm not a fan of direct application of reclaimed wastewater (ww) on food crops. That being said, I have some issues with the case he presents.
The Kirby-Bauer is a test which uses antibiotic-impregnated wafers to test whether particular bacteria are susceptible to specific antibiotics. Are the 11 bacteria types pathogenic? we aren't told. Most bacteria are benign to human health and may in fact some are essential to our health.
Obviously anything 'surviving' ww chlorination will be chlorine resistent. However there is no "Standard Methods" procedure for the Kirby-Bauer and unless these samples were taken and preserved using appropriate procedures, the analytical results aren't telling you anything. Potable water or even distilled water taken out of an agricultural environment will be loaded with bacteria (which is ubiquitous in our environment).
How did Santa Paula get into your article? They don't reclaim wastewater for crops or anything else. Their effluent doesn't meet 'Basin Plan Objectives' due to the chloride loading from residential water softeners.
"... As it now stands, industrial waste is discharged to sewers, which causes the liability that would accrue to such toxic materials" Yes, industrial wastewater is discharged to sewers and the Pretreatment Regulations of the Clean Water Act ensure those POTWs, their personnel and the receiving waters are protected from toxic loads and hazardous levels of a panoply of constituents thru the oversite of the State and the EPA. In California, it is illegal to discharge hazardous waste to the sewer and every POTW with a discharge permit has a Pretreatment/ Industrial Waste Program to insure it isn't.
On Is Reclaimed Wastewater Too Contaminated to Use, or Too Valuable to Waste?