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William and Rosemary Alley are a dynamic and uniquely paired writing team who have combined their technical and artistic talents to write a series of important books on the environment and water issues. They have followed Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste (2012), High and Dry: Meeting the Challenges of the World’s Growing Dependence on Groundwater (2017), and The War on the EPA: America’s Endangered Environmental Protections (2020) with a timely and engaging review of the water industry’s most disruptive technological leap, The Water Recycling Revolution: Tapping into the Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), now out in paperback.
In their below responses (soon to be followed by a podcast), the Alleys describe how being San Diego residents (and radio listeners) inspired them to write their most recent book, that water recyclers love to talk shop, and the best way to approach publishers.
Who do you consider to be the intended audience of The Water Recycling Revolution? Another way of asking this might be, who do you most want to read The Water Recycling Revolution?
We write for the general educated reader, including policymakers, educators, government officials, consultants, community/environmental groups, and individuals interested in environmental issues. In The Water Recycling Revolution, we look back at the fascinating history of water reuse, as well as its prospects. Purifying wastewater for drinking water and other purposes has come a long way, with wastewater increasingly viewed as a resource rather than as a waste to be disposed. Our overarching goal is to bring the conversation about recycled wastewater into story form to make this topic interesting and accessible for a broad range of people interested in water resources.
Was there a particular book or books that inspired you to write, or inspired you while you were writing, The Water Recycling Revolution?
It wasn’t a particular book so much as experiences living in San Diego that inspired us to write the book. Rosemarie would often listen to the KPBS Editors Roundtable, which discussed headline news in the San Diego region. Gloria Penner, who led the discussions, was a superb moderator. Water challenges and controversies surrounding potential use of water recycling in San Diego were common topics. The discussions particularly piqued her interest with references to water recycling as “Toilet to Tap.” Some years later, when we were thinking about writing a book on a separate topic, Rosemarie came upon a reference to water recycling. She immediately saw the possibilities, and we never looked back.
What would you say is the thesis or central argument for The Water Recycling Revolution?
The book covers the people, history, and science behind the development of this increasingly important water supply. The social and technical challenges are fascinating, and considerable advances have been made in addressing a water source that not all that long ago was referred to as “an option of last resort.” The first eight chapters provide stories of how the challenges were met by individuals and municipalities. The book then turns to the technical challenges of addressing pathogens and chemicals, along with the reality and perceptions of achieving acceptable risk. Additional chapters cover nonpotable uses of recycled wastewater and direct potable reuse (i.e., directly introducing advanced treated wastewater into the water supply without intermediate groundwater or surface water storage). We conclude the book by connecting water reuse to the One Water movement that recognizes the vast potential for collaborative management when all aspects of water are viewed as a single integrated system.
Historically, water, wastewater, and stormwater have been compartmentalized as distinct and isolated management areas. This siloed approach impeded efforts to identify and implement innovative opportunities to enhance the reliable supply of clean, sustainably sourced freshwater. While water reuse plays out in different ways, depending on the local situation, we’ve also found one constant. People involved in water reuse feel they’re part of something important and are more than happy to talk about it with anyone who is interested.
Major recycling projects continue to move forward in your backyard of San Diego and Los Angeles, but not without controversy related to cost and higher water rates – how does The Water Recycling Revolution address the financial impacts of recycled water development?
Cost is a key consideration, although wastewater recycling costs less than desalination of ocean water or importing water from northern California or the Colorado River. San Diego is at the end of the pipeline for state water supplies. Retrofitting San Diego’s water supply to include wastewater reuse is particularly complicated, in part, because, unlike Orange County and Los Angeles, San Diego lacks a suitable groundwater basin to store water and serve as an environmental buffer. It’s also easy to forget that San Diego’s water reuse system is key to an agreement with the EPA to avoid more than $2 billion dollars of upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant.
What book(s) would you like to see next to The Water Recycling Revolution on the water shelf? Are there specific books that you think would pair well with The Water Recycling Revolution, that you see The Water Recycling Revolution in dialogue with, either reinforcing, challenging, or playing off each other’s arguments?
Among water books, we view Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner as the classic. Good books that cover water recycling, in part, include The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman (including a chapter on “The Yuck Factor.”), Water for All by David Sedlak, and Let There Be Water by Seth Siegel. These lead nicely to our book which focuses solely on water reuse.
What was the process like for getting The Water Recycling Revolution published? What is your advice for anyone writing about water?
In this case, we were fortunate in already having a relationship with Rowman & Littlefield with the publication of our previous book, The War on the EPA. It can be challenging to find a publisher for a non-fiction book if you don’t have connections. For serious nonfiction, however, academic publishers can be a good option and don’t require an agent. We had good experiences with Cambridge University Press for our book Too Hot to Touch on radioactive waste and Yale University Press on our groundwater book High and Dry. In seeking publishers, it’s especially important to develop a strong outline, define your target audience, take your time to pull the proposal together, and look for ways to make it interesting but don’t get too cute.
