Good news. SoCalGas has stopped it “water reclaiming” project—found the process does not work.
Unlike the COVID vaccine which has killed thousands and maimed hundreds of thousands, at least SoCalGas had the smarts to test the process before forcing it on us.
“In May of this year, SoCalGas presented a water reclaiming opportunity to the Carpinteria City Council. The utility had planned to discharge a total of 421,000 gallons of recycled water from its operations to the Carpinteria Community Farm and northern El Carro Park for irrigation.
However, after conducting water quality tests this summer, SoCalGas could not deem the recycled water as safe for irrigation use, though the tests found no hazardous waste characteristics in the water. The water was then removed by SoCalGas from the operation site.
“What was planned for initially is no longer on the table,” city of Carpinteria Public Works Director John Ilasin said to the city council on Monday. “SoCalGas informed city staff about the particular results of the testing of the water, and that… just is not (an) acceptable type of water that they wanted to use as recycled water.”
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SoCalGas halts water reclaiming effort after substandard test results
By Lizzy Rager, CoastalView, 9/26/24 https://www.coastalview.com/news/socalgas-halts-water-reclaiming-effort-after-substandard-test-results/article_bb9ae1ec-7b9b-11ef-8ddf-b33c23f59bf5.html
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A Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) effort to reclaim over 400,000 gallons of water for irrigation this summer was halted, city of Carpinteria staff said during Monday night’s council meeting, after water quality test results fell short of the company’s water standards.
SoCalGas operates transmission and high-pressure distribution pipelines throughout Santa Barbara County.
In May of this year, SoCalGas presented a water reclaiming opportunity to the Carpinteria City Council. The utility had planned to discharge a total of 421,000 gallons of recycled water from its operations to the Carpinteria Community Farm and northern El Carro Park for irrigation.
However, after conducting water quality tests this summer, SoCalGas could not deem the recycled water as safe for irrigation use, though the tests found no hazardous waste characteristics in the water. The water was then removed by SoCalGas from the operation site.
“What was planned for initially is no longer on the table,” city of Carpinteria Public Works Director John Ilasin said to the city council on Monday. “SoCalGas informed city staff about the particular results of the testing of the water, and that… just is not (an) acceptable type of water that they wanted to use as recycled water.”
He added: “It was just felt that this water – even though it didn’t meet the hazardous waste characteristics – it’s better to be safe than sorry and to not use it, even for irrigation use.”
Councilmember Mónica Solórzano asked if the problem was intrinsic to the location; Ilasin said he only had the test results from the facility itself. If SoCalGas has another facility in the immediate area that could reclaim water, the utility will reach out to the city, he said.
Mayor Al Clark asked about the quality of the pipes, and Ilasin said though there was no information on the pipes, though from his understanding there are no structural integrity issues with the pipe.
Councilmember Wade Nomura asked about the level of contaminants in the results. Ilasin said he didn’t know those numbers off the top of his head, but that interested parties could contact him and the city for more information.
SoCalGas may return to the Carpinteria city council to explain its results, Ilasin said.
