By Chris Hoff 
From Plate to Plant: What Happens When You Flush the Toilet?
San Francisco produces more than 80 million gallons of sewage every day. In this report, KALW's Chris Hoff dives into the icky question of where human waste ends up.
In part two of his sewage investigation, KALW's Chris Hoff finds out just how safe it is to use human waste in California's farming industry.
Aired on KALW Part I - Listen Here Part II - Listen Here
Republished at EmpireReports.org
To download a creative commons licensed version of this reporting to host on your own program or website go here.
February 10, 2009 Mzz Kris This was an excellent introduction to some of the components that end up being recycled into our drinking water. The public needs to be made aware of all the contaminants entering our sewage systems such as hospital and funeral home infectious waste which includes material that contain sufficient concentrations or quantities of pathogen capable of causing diseases. Not only are blood and human bodily fluids routinely disposed of by dumping them down the drain, chemicals and pharmaceuticals from manufacturing and personal consumption that are safe in small quantities are highly hazardous in large quantities and are being recycled back into our water supply.
Genotoxic waste, like chemotherapy drugs which contain substances which can cause mutations, birth defects and cancer radioactive waste, contaminated with radioactive substances used in diagnosis and treatment of diseases like toxic goiter and other waste from the offices, kitchens, rooms, including bed linen, utensils, paper etc. from laboratories and hospitals across the nation are in our drinkig water. And then there's the unregulated field of nanotechnology that is seeding our water supply with particles that have never existed in our universe before...all quietly sneaking into the water we rely on to keep us alive.
We are a country that prides itself in cleanliness and never give a second thought to what happens to the filth we dump down the drain and recycle back inot our drinking water...we might as well be bathing and drinking water from the Ganges River, it's possibly less polluted than the 'clean' water coming out of our taps. A follow up to this piece will certainly garner some national media attention and hopefully facilitate the changes we need to make in the way we currently dispose of and recycle our liquid and solid waste.
