Re:California Is Sitting on the Solution to Its Drought Problem
by sorenbs on Thursday June 18, 2015 @06:48AM
(#9737757)
Over the last five years or so many communities in Denmark has made it mandatory to treat rain water separately from sewage to reduce the pressure on our water cleaning utilities and reuse the rain water directly. It is done by either running two separate sewer systems or using/disposing rain water on premise.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:California Is Sitting on the Solution to Its Drought Problem
by s_q_b on Thursday June 18, 2015 @12:09PM
(#9739530)
That's the state standard for new sewer systems in many locations in the United States as well. It's also actively subsidized through a complicated system of grants by the Federal government. The motive, however, usually isn't reuse of the stormwater runoff, but to reduce pollution.
Almost all older sewers in the United States use a combined sewer system, with a CSO (combined sewer overflow) into a nearby river. So when there's a heavy rain, the system dumps the excess combined rainwater and sewage into the river. Most U.S. towns and cities are this way.
Right now, whenever a system is ripped out, the combined state and local regulations and incentives usually drive the municipality to put in separate sewer systems, with the stormwater system using the old overflow site as its outlet.