Why has leadership lost their Imagination and the will to solve a problem like water shortage?

The crucial question to ask leadership is what are we doing to increase the water in the reservoirs and the rivers. Water conservation, as currently designed, will not be enough to make up for the shortages expected in the near future. The technology and the expertise needed to do much more than what leadership is currently doing to deflect impending disastrous water shortages, they and their experts have warned us to expect around the world, is available. Since cities, for example Los Angeles and San Francisco, California or all of England or Germany, currently clean their wastewater, why not use that reclaimed water to our advantage a little more. One toilet uses thousands of gallons of water per month. Why not use reclaimed wastewater instead of fresh water for this purpose? After all, not many people are currently willing to cook, shower, and brush their teeth with recycled water but I would bet my bottom dollar that people would not mind using reclaimed water for toilet use or watering their lawn with reclaimed water. The potable water those toilets are pulling from the fresh water reservoirs would decrease by millions of gallons per year leaving any city better prepared for drought.

So if we use our imagination then, a toilet water reuse system (if you hit the hyperlink scroll down to view a post titled "The Royal Flush" and an animation that explains the system) is what cities, which have water shortage concerns, need to endorse because it is a large-scale concept for a project that has the potential of quickly having a measurable affects on our water supply. Southern California is currently so desperate to save water that the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has put together a website to warn people about the seriousness of the situation and the steps citizens can take to help save water. The idea of citizens using water wisely is a good idea but shouldn’t that apply to leadership? By adding a second set of pipes to carry recycled water to toilets, millions of gallons per year of fresh water is left in the reservoirs and flowing in rivers waiting to help us in case of extended drought but the work needs to be done now. Sending recycled water down a second set of city pipes would also disconnect the fire hydrants from the fresh water sources as well allow people to water their lawns or wash their cars with recycled water.

It is true that citizens would have to make the investment to send new piping down city streets and into homes but after the initial cost, a flat fee would take care of the cost for maintaining the system. Since the amount of water per household would decrease by thousands of gallons per year, their water bills would decrease as well.  The water is already being cleaned just send that recycled water back to toilets and we will see the water reservoirs fill.