Thirsty? California Says You Can Now Drink Out of Your Toilet.

California has so many laws, rules, and regulations that make no economic sense that it’s hard to keep track of the latest wacky idea. Tax rates are among the highest in the country. Building regulation is so bad that it recently took one Los Angeles developer 17 years to build just 49 housing units, and they’re still not done.

As the Wall Street Journal described the project, “The development has faced nearly every hurdle that California laws allow opponents to place in the way of affordable housing. Approvals by politicians and commissions took years, often held up by a single determined opponent on the city council. It took the developers more time to win over skeptical neighbors who were particularly opposed to nearby housing for the mentally ill and homeless. Financing hurdles and other costs piled up along the way. Construction finally began about a year ago. In California, affordable housing developers typically abide by a host of requirements when they take public subsidies, such as tougher energy-efficiency standards and higher wages for construction workers. They often need to build amenities such as offices for social workers and transit-boosting features such as bike storage.”

California started building a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2008. Construction began in 2015. Today, nine years later, there is still no rail service. It is expected that 1/3 of the line might open in 2030.

Planned spending so far is over $23 billion and total costs are now estimated at $128 billion. As of today, there is no railroad and there are no trains. Welcome to California.

So, what’s the latest dumb idea to come out of Sacramento? Their plan is to let you drink your toilet water.

As reported in Townhall, “California officials approved of new regulations … allowing sewage water that’s been highly purified to become drinking water.”

Of course, California has abundant fresh water from melting snow, rivers, existing reservoirs, and other sources that could easily be used for drinking and bathing. Instead, California allows most of this water to run off into the Pacific Ocean and is in the business of demolishing existing dams and depleting the reservoirs they created. There might be a case for not building new dams, but destroying existing dams is pure waste.

California lets fresh mountain water run to the sea while asking you to recycle toilet water. Remember that the next time someone offers you a drink with ice in Los Angeles.

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