California residents have been facing a drought of epic proportions. It has caused them a lot of stress and the effects of a drought of this magnitude are something that the state has not even seen in the last hundred years. The drought is so bad that the governor has had to ask the people in the area to attempt to conserve the water they do have (Mungin). The drought in California is so widespread that it is not only having a devastating effect on the residents it is also impacting the farmers and ranchers. Both Farmers and ranchers are now being forced to sell off their cattle and horses because there is not enough water to sustain the animals (Hamasaki and Martinez). The water treatment facility in Orange County is attempting to rectify the drought situation by implementing a highly regarded new system that is able to take waste water and clean it so that it can be reused by the residents of California. The process of treating wastewater uses three things to ensure that the water is safe for consumption by people and animals. The treatment process uses active sludge, Membrane separation and activated carbon to treat the water supply. The pros of this are that people and animals are able to sustain their conditions during a drought by having access to clean water when there wouldn’t be. The cons are that sometimes harmful chemicals are not removed during the process (Staff). One alternative solution is known as evaporation which reuses evaporated water rather than chemical cleaning (Pankratz). Waste water treatment was something that the people of flint Michigan accepted until they learned that the process had been poisoning everyone who consumed the water (Carmody).
Works Cited
Carmody, Tim. "How The Flint River Got So Toxic". The Verge. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
District, Orange. "Drought | OCWD". Ocwd.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
Hamasaki, Sonya, and Michael Martinez. "Historic California Drought Forces Rancher To Thin His Herd Of Horses - CNN.Com". CNN. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
Mungin, Lateef. "Historic California Drought Getting Worse - CNN.Com". CNN. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
Pankratz, Tom. "Evaporation - A Wastewater Treatment Alternative | Storm Water Solutions". Estormwater.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
Staff, Google. "Pros And Cons Of The Treatments - Water Treatment Systems". Sites.google.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Mar. 2016.
