Sanders Vetoes Recycled Water Project

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 14, 2007 at 11:29 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on Wednesday vetoed a recent City Council action authorizing a pilot program to use recycled wastewater. The council voted for the plan to supplement San Diego's drinking

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders on Wednesday vetoed a recent City Council action authorizing a pilot program to use recycled wastewater. The council voted for the plan to supplement San Diego's drinking water supply. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Sanders says the project, often-called toliet-to-tap, is too expensive.

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Sanders : The water enterprise fund simply does not have the money to pay for a pilot project or the public outreach campaign the council is requesting.

Sanders says the project would cost between $10 and $15 million and would take years to develop. He says conservation and desalination are better ways to increase the city's water supply.

Sanders : Toilet to tap is not a silver bullet for our water supply needs. It is a costly process that does not hold promise for substantial amounts of usable water.

The city already uses treated water for activities such as landscaping. The City Council voted 5-2 last month to initiate a one-year reclaimed water demonstration project by next July.

The council needs five votes to override the mayor's veto. If that happens, Sanders says he'll submit to the council a notice that would require it to increase water rates to pay for the pilot project.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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