Christy Spackman

Nov 19, 2024 | issues.org | Tom Burroughs |Christy Spackman

Los Angeles is set to build a new facility for recycling wastewater into drinking water. When completed in 2027, it will produce 20 million gallons per day, enough to supply about 250,000 people. Until now, technologists and policymakers often met public resistance to reusing wastewater for human consumption, due in part to what Christy Spackman calls the “yuck” factor.

Aug 5, 2024 | issues.org | Christy Spackman |Jay Lloyd |Vol. XL

Reusing wastewater is a scientifically and technologically sound method of producing drinking water, and it may become necessary in water-stressed regions. But will the public accept it? Would you drink water you knew was made from your own poop or pee? What if that water showed up in a glass of award-winning beer? Perhaps you’ve never asked yourself these questions.

Jun 26, 2024 | lrb.co.uk | Christy Spackman |Steven Shapin

Among​ all the things that people take into their bodies, water is special, its necessity matched by its neutrality. There’s no doubt about the necessity. Human bodies are mostly water: about 60 per cent in adult men; a little less in adult women. Without water, death comes within days. A sedentary man of roughly normal weight, living in a temperate climate, requires about three litres per day; women need less; athletes and people living in tropical environments more.