No. 143: Wastewater Recovery

I've covered water scarcity topics a few times over the past couple of years, but this week I have a positive story and possible solution to our water woes.

Multiple countries have been investing in infrastructure that converts wastewater into potable drinking water in an effort to shore up resources in the face of climate change and drought. Stateside, the Orange County Water District has been leading the charge since 2008, and additional projects are in the works across the western states. It's still a major energy drain to process water this way, but I think the technology has a lot of potential.

This week's featured job focuses on journalism opportunities for non-journalists. The role in question comes from a major outlet, but you can find mission-aligned roles at smaller newsrooms if there's a particular focus area that resonates with you. If you click through to an article this week, consider finding your way to their careers page – the impact of our media industry is undeniable.

~ Greg

What we're reading

Orange County has pioneered a sewage-to-drinking-water facility that transforms wastewater into potable water in under an hour, and it could become the standard approach for water-scarce communities. (The Guardian)

• The facility in Orange County opened in 2008 and processes enough water for 1 million people daily, so the technology isn't new. In fact, this kind of recycling – wastewater to drinking water – is being used in countries around the world like Singapore and Israel.
  • There's a psychological element that we need to overcome if this is going to become more common though.
  • When people tour the facility, they drink out of cups that say Tastes like water ... because it is water. That's a tacit acknowledgment that people are expecting the resulting water to be something different than they're used to.
• Water is water though. The wastewater is filtered, undergoes reverse osmosis, and gets blasted with UV light to disinfect it and make it safe to drink. The result is water so pure it has almost no taste because all minerals have been stripped out. I haven't had the pleasure of trying it myself, but I imagine it's similar to drinking distilled water.
  • For now though, people don't drink this water directly. It is piped out to the Pacific Ocean to create a buffer zone from the saltwater and sent to Anaheim to create lakes that replenish local aquifers.
  • Something about that approach appeals to me, even if it's not the most efficient way to augment drinking water supplies. It's more like supplementing nature's existing water infrastructure.
• Fortunately, Orange County won't be an outlier in the United States for long. Los Angeles County is building its own facility, and projects are starting in Utah, Texas, and Colorado.
  • You might notice a theme: this starts to look a lot like the list of states that rely on water from the Colorado River, a resource that is heavily contested.
  • I'm excited to see how this plays out, because I think it's more imperative than ever to recover our natural resources so they can be used again.

Job of the week

It's hard to deny the role that media plays in our understanding of the world – take this newsletter for instance, which wouldn't exist without the journalism at organizations like Grist, The Marshall Project, The Guardian, and many, many others. I don't often include their job opportunities because you often need journalism experience, however, NPR is currently looking to hire a Digital Media Planning Associate to support ad operations.

This is about as accessible an entry point as I've found if you want to support journalism from within: you only need a couple of years of experience with ad platforms and a project management skillset, and the role is remote.

Community roundup

• Las Vegas summers can be blisteringly hot – well over 100° F, with surface temperatures on asphalt exceeding 140° F – so the city is planting 2000 trees per year to reduce temperatures. Their goal is to plan 60,000 trees by 2050, which is no small feat. I'd love to see a greener Las Vegas. (NPR)
• A new FDA-approved blood test for Alzheimer's was shown to be 95% accurate, which puts it on par with more invasive testing. That kind of accuracy and accessibility could improve early identification of memory issues and lead to better care. (The Guardian)
• U.S. scientists are looking for jobs outside the country. The journal Nature analyzed trends from their job search platform and found that the number of U.S. applicants for jobs in Canada, Europe, and China increased by more than 20% each, and the number of applicants applying to U.S. roles dropped by 13% if they came from Canada and by 41% if they came from Europe. (Axios)
  • This is a big deal because we're essentially in a race with countries around the world to produce the best foundational research. Scientists are trying to move to places that will support their life's work, and that drain on our talent has long-term repercussions.
• A new study was released that reviewed gun deaths in children before and after the Supreme Court made it more difficult for local governments to restrict gun ownership in 2010. Some states loosened regulations as a result, and by my math, the number of gun fatalities in those states were around 50% higher than they should have been based on historical trends – 23,000 total, which is 7,400 more than expected. (NYT)
  • Part of why this matters so much is because guns are the leading cause of death for children between 1 and 17, and most of those deaths are homicides and suicides.

Civic corner

• The Secretary of Health has reduced staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration by 30% and plans to fold it into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America. (NPR)
  • On a related note, the 2026 budget proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services aims to eliminate LGBTQ-specific counseling for people who call the 988 suicide prevention hotline. Interestingly, President Trump signed the law that established 988 in 2020, and that legislation included additional resources for LGBTQ youth because they are more likely to contemplate suicide compared to their peers. (NBC)
• Nearly half of states have introduced legislation or passed bans on cell phones in classrooms in an effort to improve mental health and reduce distractions. The effort is bipartisan, and Senators Tim Kaine and Tom Cotton have introduced a bill at the national level that aims to study the effects of cellphone use further. (Axios)
• A group of United Nations scientists have released a policy brief this week proposing a global minerals trust. The intent of the trust is to treat rare minerals – such as those used in renewable energy technology – as a shared planetary resource to ensure equitable use and protect against shortages. (Inside Climate News)
• I've shared a few stories over the past year about major tech companies investing in nuclear energy to power data centers. This week, I was surprised to hear that some data centers in Texas are getting their own dedicated power plants onsite, but they're powered by traditional fossil fuels. They are effectively insulated from the electrical grid as well. (Inside Climate News)

Hot job opportunities

• Account Executive – Humanitru – Remote
• Talent Development Associate – Clover Health – Remote
• Marketing Manager, Strong Institutions and Infrastructure – Fors Marsh – Raleigh, NC
• Senior Customer Success Manager – Project Canary – Denver, CO
• Operations Coordinator – Stok – San Francisco, CA
• Data Entry Associate – Merit America – Remote
• Human Resources Manager – Arabella Advisors – Durham, NC; Washington, DC; San Francisco, CA; or New York, NY
• Director of Broadcast Communications – Climate Power – Remote
• Senior Manager, Software Development – EVgo – Remote
• Senior Executive Assistant – Patagonia – Ventura, CA

Resource of the week

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you've donated items you no longer needed so someone else could benefit from them in the future. Sometimes the process can feel intangible: you drop off donations but don't get to see what happens afterwards.

This week I came across BuyNothing – more of a movement than anything else, but one that brings neighbors together to share goods with no expectation of anything in return. They have an app that helps you find a BuyNothing community near you, but the groups are independently organized. In my own searches, I landed on BuyNothing Ridgefield – I'm based in Ridgefield, Washington, a city with a very small population north of Portland, OR – which just goes to show how targeted these groups can be.

If you have something you'd like to give away, see if there's a community near you. You could meet a neighbor and make a difference in one fell swoop, and there's nothing quite like gratitude to put a smile on your face.

Test your knowledge

A bit on the nose, but last week I asked about the origins of the pride movement. The Stonewall Riots were the spark: the first pride march occurred on the one year anniversary of the police raid on the Stonewall Inn.

Honestly, if you haven't read some of the circumstances around that night, it's worth a read. One of the things that resonates with me personally is the sense of exhaustion: it comes across like people had been pushed to a breaking point after decades of persecution, and it could have been any other bar on any other night. Raids were occurring about once a month at bars around New York City.

It's not hard to draw parallels to what we're seeing today, and not just for the LGBTQ community. For this week, however, we'll turn our attention to hurricane season. Scientists are predicting a more active season than usual, and the most impactful storms come at a cost:

What is the most expensive hurricane in U.S. history?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I made my first campsite reservation since high school and can't wait to get outside again. I've held onto my backpacking gear for 18 years and refused to get rid of it through a half-dozen moves. Paradise Creek, I'm coming.