Mist-ic showerhead and 6 other ways California copes with drought http://b4in.org/jRYT

Originally shared by Before It's News

Mist-ic showerhead and 6 other ways California copes with drought http://b4in.org/jRYT

A revolutionary showerhead that uses 70 percent less water has already raised $1.3 million on Kickstarter. Record drought affecting the US West Coast has inspired some intriguing solutions to the water shortage.

1. The Nebia showerhead
The Nebia system, backed by the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook, has raised more than fifteen times the $100,000 it set out to collect via a campaign on Kickstarter.

“Nebia atomizes water into millions of tiny droplets with 10 times more surface area than your regular shower,” the California-based company says. “With Nebia, more water comes into contact with your body, leaving your skin clean and hydrated all while using less water than a typical household showerhead.”

In the fourth year of a record drought, California and other areas along the US West Coast are seeking new ways, both basic and advanced, to save the world’s most valuable resource.

2. Toilet to tap

Across California, water managers and environmentalists in particular are pushing systems that convert sewage effluent to heavily-treated, purified drinking water. Proponents of potable water reuse say that the system could recycle the hundreds of billions of gallons of treated sewage, currently directed into the Pacific Ocean, into drinking water.

In Orange County, a treatment plant built in 2008 is expanding water production from 70 million to 100 million gallons per day, enough for 850,000 people per year, according to Orange County Water District general manager Mike Markus. That expansion will cost $140 million, much cheaper than importing water from northern California or desalination of ocean water, Markus said.

3. Tapping the ocean

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