The guts of the system are hidden underground.
Right about the time I started researching the story about sewage spills in the Bay Area, I also started the preliminary stages of potty training my nearly-two-year-old twin boys. This involves first getting them familiar and comfortable with the whole process of using the toilet. So for the last couple of months, I’ve been dutifully inviting them into the bathroom with me when I go “potty”.

They LOVE announcing like, squawking little birds, exactly what it is I'm doing in there. They knock each other over for the chance to flush the toilet. But it seems the best part of all is giving it a hero’s send-off: "Bye-Bye, Poo-Poo! Bye-Bye, Poo-Poo! Bye-Bye, Poo-Poo!" Apart from it just being sort of fun to say, I don’t think that I’m imagining that they are experiencing a kind of satisfaction in making it go away. Call me jaded but I think my own enthusiasm for the process has faded somewhat since I was their age. But after producing Wastewater Woes: Sewage Spills in SF Bay, I've learned some things about sewage collection and wastewater treatment systems that are good to be aware of.

When one of the 47 wastewater treatment plants around the bay has a spill or an overflow during wet weather, it's unlikely that Bay Area residents consider that it was caused by anything that we've done or neglected to do. But I learned that one of the main reasons for so many sewage spills in San Francisco Bay- both from the treatment plants and the collection systems underground- is that those of us who use and depend on the sewage system don't really understand it. Water and sewage customers need to be conscious of a few key facts:

• The water that's flushed down the toilet, used to wash clothes or dishes, or runs while we brush our teeth ultimately ends up getting treated then is discharged into the bay or the ocean.
  

• Putting grease down the drain, flushing rags, feminine hygiene products or anything but toilet paper down the toilet can lead to blocked sewage pipes and dangerous spills in the collection systems.
  

• Years of neglecting our cracked and crumbling sewage collection systems, including privately-owned sewage lateral pipes that connect every single home and business to the city-owned sewage mains, has resulted in the inflow of great volumes of rainwater to the collection system as well as spills and overflows downstream at treatment plants.

Sure, sewage is not the most pleasant thing to contemplate and it's understandable that most people don’t give it a second thought because the guts of the system are hidden underground. But it is precisely this "out of sight, out of mind" mentality that has led to untreated sewage spills in San Francisco Bay becoming a significant source of pollution that can have harmful impacts on people, animals and habitat. The cost of fixing the Bay Area's systems is estimated at several billion dollars. Obviously, that won't happen overnight. So in the meantime, have your own lateral inspected and repaired and don’t be surprised if your sewage rates continue to creep up.

For my own part, I will strive to teach my boys responsible flushing and instill in them a little bit of curiosity about what exactly happens AFTER we flush the toilet.

Watch the Wasterter Woes: Sewage Spills in SF Bay television story online.

Could the future of potable water in California be in recycling wastewater? The Orange County Water District thinks so. In February of this year it opened its advanced water treatment plant, which produces 50 million gallons of potable water per day. It took them 13 years to finish the project. They spent a lot of that time educating consumers. Of course the idea of drinking water that was once used for other less savory purposes than drinking is an unpleasant thought. So Orange County's water district took its educational campaign very seriously. They went to great lengths to explain that the wastewater is cleaned to the point where it meets state and federal drinking water standards and then put through an extra filtration step, which consists of dumping it into a lake with a sandy basin and letting it filter into the aquifers. (This is why they call the project the Groundwater Replenishment System). As part of its outreach, the district even got Orange County's Bishop Jaime Soto to record positive comments about the project and posted the video on its Web site.

Here in the Bay Area, projects to use recycled wastewater aren't as advanced. Still, John Stufflebean, director of environmental services for the City of San José, says it’s in the cards for San José. The city has started its own educational effort. Stufflebean is one of the city officials that give regular guided tours of the San José/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant in northern San José. The process really is quite a sight. The gray and smelly raw wastewater comes in on one end, and at the end of a three-step process — once again clean and transparent — either trickles back into the Bay or is used to irrigate golf courses and farms. Stufflebean says that people on the tour often ask why this water can’t be used for drinking. With some additional steps, it could. Stay tuned. Perhaps in the future it will.

Watch the "State of Thirst: California's Water Future" TV Story online, as well as find additional links and resources.