In Santa Rosa yesterdays toilet flush is todays electricity They are using urban effluent to generate clean energy,

improving life not only for humans but also for fish.

For Calpine, the arrangement has revived geothermal steam fields that were declining from overuse.

A sister project in neighboring Lake County recycles eight million gallons of wastewater a day.

Together these installations generate 200 megawatts of electricity. In 1993 Santa Rosa was facing a cease-and-desist order and the threat of a building moratorium because of the citys illegal wastewater discharges into the Russian River, important spawning grounds for endangered Coho salmon and steelhead trout.

Production of electricity was depleting the under Calpines ground resource faster than it could be naturally replenished.

The neighboring town of Windsor signed a 302-year agreement in November 2008 allowing it to pump 700,000 gallons of effluent a day into the Santa Rosa pipeline.

A large magma chamber more than five miles below the surface heats a layer of rock. Water trapped in this greywacke sandstone reservoir boils into steam, which fizzes out through hairline fissures in the overlying rock cap.

By the 1930s the tourist trade had collapsed in a muddle of hotel fires, landslides and impending war.

In 1921 Grant completed the nations first geothermal power plant at the Geysers. Grant produced 250 watts of electricity.

Pacific gas and Electric Company began operating an 11-megawatt plant. Generation at the Geysers peaked in 1987 at 2,000 megawatts, enough to power two million homes.

By 1999 production had dropped significantly, sending Calpine officials looking for water to inject into the ground.

To get wastewater from Santa Rosa to the Geysers, a pipeline passes underneath city streets, residential developments and open fields before beginning its 3,000-foot climb into the Maya camas.

A drive along the 40-mile route from the citys Laguna treatment plant passes wild apple trees that give way to red-barked marine and majestic valley oaks as the back roads over the pipeline wind upward.

The article talks about using waste water as a source of energy. It can be a solution to waste water and a better living situation for humans. Itll help reduce greenhouse gas emission. Given all the good sides of it some faults of it include Running out of steam because of all the drilling and pumping that was done. Also for residents who live within 20 miles of the production area the scene is anything but pastoral. Local residents have experienced a dramatic increase in earthquakes. One of the places near the installation has recorded 2,562 separate jolts, including 24 with magnitudes greater than 4.0. Overall the system is really useful for humans and its ecofriendly so we just have to find a way to make it better as it is.

 C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views Geothermal systems are one step near to finding a solution that is both ecofriendly and people friendly. Using waste water as a source of energy is a marvelous way that works in many directions including economy, usage of energy, pollution, living standards and more. It has a role in making each of those better either by increasing or decreasing them. Even though they are super benefical they also have some faults such as earth quakes. The process increases the rate and how frequently it occurs. But I still dont think geothermal systems should stop being used, But rather modify the steps that causes the earthquakes and find a better way to substitute them. So what? Geothermal systems are one of the ways humans can benefit the environment and their selves What if...? Geothermal systems are modified? They would increase in their use because theyll decrease in the damage they cause Says who? Jane Braxton Little What does this remind me of? Fracking; they both cause problems near places theyre conducted in, even though fracking is far more worse