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.

Why cell phones are bad for gorillas and how Eco-Cell is helping.

Got a cell phone? Then in your pocket or stuck to your ear is a metallic ore called Coltan, short for Columbite-tantalite, a vital component in the capacitors that control current flow in cell phone circuit boards.

Your i-pod, laptop, DVD player and game console most likely also contain Coltan. This highly desired ore lives in the soils of the rain forest. 80% of Coltan comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The main area where Coltan is mined contains the Kahuzi Biega National Park, home of the highly endangered Mountain Gorilla. In the Park, ground-clearing for mining operations has reduced food and habitat for the gorillas, cutting their numbers nearly in half. Mining has also displaced the local people, leading them to kill gorillas and sell the "bush meat" to the miners and rebel armies that control the area.

Within the Dem. Rep. of Congo as a whole, the number of Eastern Lowland Gorillas in eight national parks has declined by 90% over the past 5 years, leaving only 3000 gorillas total.

There is hope. Companies that use Coltan are beginning to demand that their Coltan only comes from a legitimately mined source and for that fact to be verified on the packaging, much like Dolphin Safe Tuna.

What you can do currently is reduce and recycle. Reduce the amount of electronics, including cell phones, that you buy and recycle them when you are definitely done with them. Recycling these items helps
eliminate the need for more mining and keeps them out of the landfill.

The Oakland Zoo is happy to take your old cell phone and recycle it through companies such as Cartridges for Kids or Eco-Cell.

Eco-Cell, a Kentucky based company, works to help gorillas by encouraging cell phone recycling, educating about the issues and donating funds to support gorilla conservation.

You can also help gorillas by attending a family friendly event at the Oakland Zoo, Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes, featuring children’s author Pamela Turner and epidemiologist Dr. Lynne Gaffikin on February 6, 2008. Bring in a cell phone to recycle for a free raffle ticket.

Amy Gotliffe is Conservation Manager at The Oakland Zoo.

latitude: -4.03833, longitude: 21.7587