Down the Drain and Up Again

The current dry spell is likely to continue for a long time to come, and Southern California's water supply is also being reduced by legal demands on the Colorado River and environmental issues in northern California. On Friday, Orange County will turn on the world's largest plant devoted to purifying waste water out of the sewer. Despite the cliché, though, it won't go right to the tap. The Mayor of San Diego vetoed its City Council's plan for what's called "Indirect Potable Reuse" or IPR. That's the recycling of sewage to make it part of the water supply, also called—somewhat misleadingly—"toilet to tap." We hear more about Orange County's IPR program and why San Diego's mayor turned it down.