Re: California regulators adopt wastewater reuse rules, knocking 'toilet-to-tap' misnomer

[California Regressions]

In article <ulnqnd$34j42$1...@dont-email.me>

> California? Let them drink AIDS infected shit and piss water.
They deserve it.

California regulators granted their unanimous support Tuesday for a
long-awaited slate of rules that could flush future drinking water
sources down toilets across the Golden State.

The California State Water Resources Control Board voted to approve
regulations that would streamline “direct potable reuse” (DPR) — a
method by which purified wastewater is released right into a public
water system or just upstream from a treatment plant.

“If I had a balloon drop, you would see it dropping right now, and
some confetti,” Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Board, said at
the end of the Tuesday vote.

Esquivel and his colleagues also directed staff members to report
back in a year with updates about any evolving science and
technologies that could impact the implementation of these rules.

Although DPR earned the viral misnomer “toilet-to-tap” years ago,
water used in the process won’t really be flowing directly from a
toilet into a tap.

“We’ve been working on these regulations for over 10 years now,
making sure that it’s absolutely protective of public health,”
Darrin Polhemus, deputy director of the board’s division of drinking
water, said at the Tuesday hearing.

This will also hardly be the first instance of repurposing sewage in
California.

Utilities in the Golden State and around the country have long
practiced “indirect potable reuse,” the injection of treated
wastewater into environmental buffers — such as groundwater aquifers
or lakes — before its discharge into a public system.

Unlike indirect potable reuse, however, DPR does not use an
underground aquifer or any type of environmental storage barrier.

Instead, the process involves either sending purified wastewater
directly into a treatment plant or first blending it with other
water sources — a milder alternative known as “raw water
augmentation” — prior to doing so.

“Toilet-to-tap is in the headlines again,” Esquivel said, noting
just how “silly” some of the politics surrounding the subject has
become.

He stressed that today’s reality is that anyone who is drinking from
the Mississippi River, Colorado River or any other drinking water
source downstream from a treatment plant “is already drinking
toilet-to-tap.”

While the state board approved the rules Tuesday, DPR systems won’t
be popping up overnight. The regulations first need to be accepted
by the state’s Office of Administrative Law — which officials have
said would likely occur by summer or fall of next year.

Only at that point would utilities begin to build these large and
complex projects, most of which would take many years to complete.

Despite the widespread attention surrounding Tuesday’s vote, the
Golden State is actually not be the first to approve DPR rules.

Colorado adopted DPR regulations in January, though no utilities
have made use of these rules thus far. Texas released regulatory
guidance for DPR on a case-by-case basis, and Florida and Arizona
are both working on related rules.

Experts anticipate that the California regulations will not only be
the most rigorous but will also serve commercial-scale projects that
are already in planning phases.

The new DPR regulations are rooted in the 2017 A.B. 574 bill, which
required the water resources board to adopt “uniform water recycling
criteria for direct potable reuse” on or before Dec. 31, 2023.

The 69-page proposal details rules for controlling and monitoring
chemicals and pathogens, as well as comprehensive instructions for
plant operations, maintenance and compliance.

The adoption of DPR regulations in California has faced a long,
uphill battle.

San Diego, for example, launched a campaign to implement DPR in the
1990s, but this effort ultimately stalled when the “toilet-to-tap”
phrase caught on and began to rock public opinion, KPBS reported.

One long-standing issue that policymakers have identified as an
obstacle toward getting Californians on board has been a discomfort
associated with the potential presence of both chemicals and
infectious diseases in wastewater.

But officials stressed that the proposed regulations included
“triple redundancy” to ensure the elimination of biological
contaminants.

To determine safe pathogen thresholds and treatment protocol,
researchers relied on the Giardia and Cryptosporidium parasites and
on norovirus, the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis,
according to a statement of reasons issued by the board in July.

They found that regulating bacteria levels was unnecessary, as the
approach for eradicating “the hardier pathogen types” could “easily
deal with the bacteria threat,” the document stated.

“I’ve been at this board for seven years,” Esquivel said Tuesday,
noting that it has taken many years and the leadership of prior
board members to move the DPR regulations forward.

“I have to thank them first and foremost for the opportunity to be
here as we adopt what are these significant regulations and really
bring us here into the 21st century,” he added.

https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/4368209-
california-regulators-adopt-wastewater-reuse-rules-knocking-toilet-
to-tap-misnomer/

[Gary Peterson]

>They deserve it.
>

Why are rightist Christians always raping children?


We should be executing rightist Christians for this.

Child sex abuse happens across Protestant and evangelical churches - and,
at times, at a higher rate.

An investigation by The Associated Press recently found three insurance
companies in the United States that provide liability coverage for 165,000
Protestant churches typically receive 260 reports every year of children
being sexually abused by Protestant clergy or other staff.

In 2013, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor, said the
Christian mission field is a "magnet" for sexual abusers.

Tchividjian, a grandson of the late evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham,
excoriated evangelicals for turning a blind eye to abuse among their
ranks.

The Presbyterian Church

In recent years, the Presbyterian Church, one of the most progressive
mainline denominations, has been rocked by child sexual abuse cases. The
majority of cases involved the children of missionaries serving overseas
from the 1950s to 1990.

In the wake of mounting allegations, the church commissioned an
independent panel to investigate the reports. The panel found that at
least nine individuals, including ministers ordained with the
denomination, had abused children.

A similar investigation in 2002 found "overwhelming" evidence that at
least 22 girls and women had been sexually abused by a Presbyterian
minister and missionary over a 40-year period.

The abuse took place in Africa and the United States.

Matt York/AP

Southern Baptists

A survey by the Journal of Pastoral Care in 1993 found that 14 percent of
Southern Baptist ministers said they had engaged in "inappropriate sexual
behavior."

By 2000, a report to the Baptist General Convention found the incidence of
sexual abuse by clergy had reached "horrific proportions." Victims
advocates have derided church leadership for protecting predators and
covering up crimes.

In 2016 the Southern Baptist Convention elected Steve Gaines as its
president. A few years earlier, Gaines, at the time head of a Memphis,
Tennessee, church was implicated in clergy child molestation case.
Investigators said Gaines knew for years that one of his ministers had
sexually molested a child. Gaines neither reported the crime to police or
his congregation, police said.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Leaked internal documents this year catapulted the Jehovah's Witnesses
church unto the child sex crimes roster.

The insular church discouraged victims of sexual abuse from reporting the
abuse, the documents showed.

The leaked documents exposed sexual abuse accusations from three accusers
against a member of the church. The documents outline the efforts by the
church to cover up the scandal and keep it from the "worldly court of
law."

Since the news broke, hundreds of church members have come forward with
their own accounts of abuse. Attorneys believe there are thousands of
victims involved.

Predators: not so much pastors but volunteers

The majority of accused predators in faith settings are not clergy or
staff but church volunteers.

That is according to the Christian Ministry Resources, which serves more
than 75,000 congregations and 1,000 denominational agencies nationwide.

Annual surveys from the organization suggest that in recent years, the
pace of child-abuse allegations against American churches has averaged 70
a week.


Ultra-orthodox Jews

The New York community of ultra-Orthodox Jews has faced a backlash for
asking observant Jews to consult a rabbi instead of going immediately to
police with evidence of child sexual abuse.

Similar cases have sprung in other cities, including Baltimore and Miami,
involving allegations of sexual misconduct by orthodox Jewish leaders.

The case involving Rabbi Shmuel Krawatsky, formerly of the Beth Tfiloh
Dahan Community School in Baltimore, involves the alleged abuse of at
least three boys at a summer camp.

According to a report by The Jewish Week, the rabbi, who was naked and
alone in a pool changing room with two alleged victims, touched the boys
inappropriately before asking them to touch his "private parts" in
exchange for $100."

The report also states that the rabbi threatened the young boys not to
tell their parents.

Given the faith's shroud of secrecy there is no hard data regarding the
number of potential abuse victims in the Orthodox Jewish community.
Experts estimate that there could be thousands of victims dating back
decades.

The principle of mesirah forbids reporting a Jewish practitioner to
secular authorities. Issues are supposed to be handled internally within
the greater faith community.



Dennis Hastert

In 2016, Dennis Hastert, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the
House in U.S. history, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for
structuring payouts in order to cover up the sexual abuses he perpetrated
as a wrestling coach in Illinois decades ago.

"The thing I want to do is say I'm sorry to those I've hurt and misled.
They looked at me and I took advantage of them," Hastert told a judge.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin called Hastert "a serial child
molester."

Hastert was released last year from a federal prison in Minnesota after
serving nearly 13 months.

The former Republican powerhouse was ordered to serve two years of court-
ordered supervised release .


Jerry Sandusky

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky is serving up to 60 years
in prison for sexually abusing 10 boys between 1994 and 2009.

Sandusky targeted his victims from among the boys who attended his Second
Mile camp, a charity that he ran for at-risk youth. He was convicted of 45
of 48 counts of child sexual abuse against young boys from the charity

Banned swimming coaches

Approximately 150 youth swimming coaches have been banned for life as a
result of credible child sex crimes allegations against them.

In 2010, Andy King, a coach with a California aquatics club, was charged
with 20 counts of lewd acts with girls 15 and younger. He was sentenced to
40 years in prison for molesting girls training with the San Jose Aquatics
Club. King was alleged to have impregnated one of his victims when she was
14.

In 2008, Central Indiana Aquatics coach Brian Hindson was accused of
setting up hidden cameras in locker rooms. He pleaded guilty to charges
including distribution, production and possession of child pornography and
was sentenced to 33 years in prison.

A coach who failed to step up

Chuch Wielgus, who served as executive director of USA Swimming for nearly
20 years, came under fire for his handling of sex abuse cases.

In 2014, more than four years after rebuking culpability, Wielgus
apologized to victims and acknowledged that he should have done more to
protect athletes.

He wrote in a blog post: "I wish my eyes had been more open to the
individual stories of the horrors of sexual abuse. I wish I had known more
so perhaps I could have done more."

Wielgus died in 2017.

Millions of children abused by teachers

Schools are supposed to be a safe environment for children, but they can
actually be one of the most dangerous places for children with regards to
sexual abuse.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found that up to
7 percent of all middle and high school students were the targets of
physical sexual abuse by teachers, coaches and other adults working in the
school system.

That statistic puts the number of young teens sexually abused by teachers
and other school adults in the millions.

A 2015 report found that just under 500 educators were arrested in
connection to child sex crimes:

3.5 million students (grades 8th-11th) reported having had physical
sexual contact from an adult (most often a teacher or coach).
4.5 million children reported being shown pornography or being
subjected to sexually explicit language or exhibitionism.

According to a report by The Washington Post, 35 percent of educators
convicted or accused of sexual misconduct with children had used social
media to gain access to their victims.



Young children have long been taught about "stranger danger," but, in
fact, most perpetrators are individuals close to a child, including a day
care worker or volunteer. According to federal health authorities,
pedophiles and child molesters, in general:

tend to be male
can be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual
range in age from teens to midlife
are usually a relative, friend, or neighbor of the child
carry the abuse out in the home of the victim
often claim that they themselves were victims of childhood sexual
abuse.

The majority of victims are girls. When boys are victims, the sexual abuse
tends to take place outside the home, and the perpetrator may be a
stranger.