Shanghaiist: Fake water and piss-drinking

guest

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 23:46:50 +0800

Usually only smaller communities in the US would use reverse osmosis, the volume of water that can be handled is just not great enough compared to regular treatment plants. And Shanghai needs to dump its old pipes, as do all of China's big cities otherwise they will become the world's largest humanitarian disasters. But then again, all of that FDI and forex is better spent trying to gain back "lost territory" than provide for the general public's health.

yu888

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:57:19 +0800

Reverse osmosis as a process to purify water to a point where it is reintroduced to the water supply is not new. Of course, reading the article may not tell that story, many water districts in the US already do it and the renewed water is returned to the reservoirs to then undergo the standard treatment all over again with the rest of the water supply The point of this process is unfortunately not to supply cleaner tap but to increase the available tap water supply. Reintroducing treated waste water without the RO process would only put a greater drain on old infrastructure, thus would not be ideal. Then again, I suppose TIC and nothing here is ideal.

guest

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:59:08 +0800

Then the city would do just as well to send sewage to a regular waste treatment plant then to the reservoir. Both systems would require new piping anyway (OTOH, this is china...) unless some people in Shanghai are looking for new green technology to pilfer for copying and resale.

Kenneth T

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:24:52 +0800

Hi sorry if I wasnt clear enough. These are not individual household recycling systems we're talking about. The city would have several water recycling plants, and in Singapore's case, the recycled water is actually reintroduced back into the reservoirs, and not used as potable water directly because of the psychological barrier of consuming (treated) sewage.

guest

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:25:53 +0800

Household recycling systems have been around since the 70s. None of them are cheap, all require skilled, regular maintenance (also not cheap unless you are a good plumber) including replacing those very expensive micropore filters and they also require quite a bit of space inside your home or apartment building. How many apartment building owners in China are going to install such systems for anyone less than well-off locals and middle to upper class expats? And for people living in the countryside, these systems are useless. nanheyangrouchuan