Project Blue is looking like a leaky faucet that will run up your water bill and maybe drain your water tank. The details of the final bill are few, and the invoice includes stealthy, deceptive buzz words like "water positive", "renewable water" and the old standby "reclaimed water". News that the faucet will be leaking drinking water for two to three years before it gets fixed is likely found in the fine print of the bill.
Meanwhile, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has promulgated regulations for the direct reuse of treated wastewater, including direct potable reuse - a tacit acknowledgement that reclaimed water will one day be a source of our drinking water. You can pump groundwater, import surface water or use reclaimed water. Project Blue will initially require use of potable water then commits our future reclaimed water sources for some unenumerated quantity and duration - sources that may one day provide potable water. Call it what it is, but it's not water positive.
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Sheldon Clark
Vail
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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