Pollution 



299 



are approximately $2.00/1000 gallons for a 

 Pacific Gas and Electric Plant at Morro Bay 

 which produces about 144,000 gallons per 

 day. According to Howe (1958) recent de- 

 velopments suggest that costs may soon be 

 reduced for large-scale distillation to some- 

 thing like $0.35/1000 gallons. This is less 

 than the $0.40/1000 gallons commonly paid 

 by southern Californians for municipal wa- 

 ter; the cost at the source for the latter is 

 only about $0.10/1000 gallons. It is also 

 much more than the $0.02 to $0.12/1000 

 gallons paid by farmers for irrigation water. 

 As pointed out by Howe (1952), production 

 by distillation of all needed domestic water 

 in the United States would more than equal 

 the total fuel now burned in power plants. 

 With the imminent depletion of reserves of 

 petroleum, natural gas, and high-grade coal 

 in the United States, it is evident that large- 

 scale distillation using these fuels is imprac- 

 tical. However, waste heat from industry 

 might well be utilized. As pointed out in 

 the section on man-made oceanography, 

 about 2.8 X 10^° cal/day of heat is wasted 

 to the ocean from power plants in the Los 

 Angeles region. Additional heat is put into 

 the air or ocean by the numerous oil refin- 

 eries of the region. Possible reduction in 

 costs may also be permitted by use of atomic 

 energy. In 1958 the U. S. Congress and the 

 California Legislature granted $100,000 to 

 the Fluor Corporation of Whittier to study 

 this problem. Plans call for the design of 

 a low-level low-cost nuclear reactor to pro- 

 duce 1,000,000 gallons per day, with later 

 ones to be rated at as much as 50,000,000 

 gallons per day at a cost of perhaps $0.50/ 

 1000 gallons (Brice, Dusbabek, and Town- 

 send, 1958). Since the evaporation will be 

 at low temperature and use only half the 

 introduced sea water, scale formation should 

 be avoided. The fresh water, condensed by 

 cold sea water, should carry less than 60 

 ppm of salts, about one-fifth the maximum 

 for drinkable water. 



Still other supplies of fresh water can be 

 obtained from treated sewage effluent. If 

 pumped from the Hyperion Sewage Treat- 

 ment Plant, delivery to the desert for irriga- 

 tion would cost about $0.30 to $0.40 per 



1000 gallons; even then the chemical com- 

 position would be such as to restrict its uses 

 (Gunnerson, 1958^). For local domestic 

 and industrial use the effluent must be 

 treated to maintain the dissolved solids be- 

 low accepted concentrations (U. S. Public 

 Health Service, 1946), requiring about half 

 the flow to be discharged to the ocean. The 

 cost of reclaiming Hyperion effluent is esti- 

 mated at only $0.03 to $0.12 per 1000 gal- 

 lons; thus, increased demands for water will 

 probably require its eventual use in spite of 

 popular resistance to use of reclaimed sew- 

 age effluent. Reclaimed sewage effluent has 

 long been used in some European cities 

 (Tolman, 1937, p. 186). 



Pollution 



In addition to their problem of obtaining, 

 treating, and distributing water, urban areas 

 must provide for the collection, treatment, 

 and disposal of the same water and of other 

 materials as sewage after use by the inhabi- 

 tants. Some of this sewage can be re- 

 claimed through treatment and return of 

 water to the ground or to water mains, but 

 popular prejudice and the high content of 

 salts limit the amount that can be recovered. 

 A large percentage of the solids can also be 

 reclaimed as fertilizer, but the cost is about 

 $14/ton (Hume, Bargman, Gunnerson, and 

 Imel, 1958), nearly four times the cost of 

 fertilizer from other sources. About 24 per 

 cent of the solids are being recovered at Los 

 Angeles City's Hyperion Sewage Treatment 

 Plant, an amount almost exactly the same 

 as the synthesis due to algal growth in the 

 sewage during its purification treatment 

 (Gunnerson, \95Sb). The bulk of the water 

 and solids from this and other coastal treat- 

 ment plants is discharged to the ocean in 

 the belief that the ocean is a hmitless reser- 

 voir and that concentrations are quickly re- 

 duced by stirring and other processes. Even 

 with the minimum treatment permitted by 

 discharge to the ocean, the costs of collec- 

 tion and handling are approximately $0.12/ 

 1000 gallons, about one-third the original 

 cost of the water. 



Some idea of the magnitude of the dis- 



