Recycled water falls just above recycled food when it comes to the "yuck" factor. Ask anybody who watched the Kevin Costner movie Waterworld.

Despite the fact that the Sierra snowpack is now at 209 percent normal levels, the LADWP, which services Venice's water needs, is proceeding with a series of public outreach meetings to explain exactly what recycled water is and how it will become part of our drinking water supply in years to come.

When he was general manager of the LADWP, David Nahai told me that “We purify our wastewater to a very high degree, then simply dump it into the ocean.” He explained that it was far more efficient and less energy intensive to purify the water further to be added to our drinking supply compared with desalination, a process now in use in Israel and on Catalina Island.

Soon after I spoke with Nahai I got to tour the Orange County Water District reclamation plant. Through a variety of processes including ultraviolet light exposure, reverse osmosis filtering and the addition of chlorine, the plant turns 70 million gallons of sewage into fresh water every day. It’s pumped back into the ground where it replenishes the aquifer. Of course, the officials there twisted my arm to taste it. It reminded me of distilled water.

To discuss the details of its own recycled water program, the LADWP is holding a Westside meeting on Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Palms Rancho Park Library. The presenter will be Jim Yannotta, the LADWP's assistant director of water resources. For anybody with questions about the role recycled water will have as part of Venice’s water supply, I urge you to attend.