ESCONDIDO -- Aiming to increase Escondido's water supply as the state drought worsens, city officials are exploring relatively new technology that transforms sewer water into clean drinking water.

While it would take several years to plan and build a facility that could purify sewer water, city officials said such a project could make Escondido less reliant on dwindling outside water supplies. They also said the new facility might save city residents money by lowering local water and sewer rates.

Plans to purify sewer water have faced a public backlash nearly everywhere they have been proposed, but supporters say an aggressive public education campaign can persuade people to drink the water.

Orange County officials said Tuesday that they have had tremendous success with their sewer water purification facility -- the first in the nation -- since it opened more than a year ago.

But opponents, who condemn the approach as "toilet to tap," contend that the water can still contain hormones and pharmaceuticals after the purification process. They want purified sewer water restricted to irrigation and other nondrinking uses.

Members of the Escondido City Council said Tuesday they were open-minded about anything that might increase the city's water supply and lower expenses. But they also said it would take strong evidence to persuade them to drink a glass of such water.

The process of purifying sewer water involves putting it through reverse osmosis and shining ultraviolet rays on it, city officials said. The water is then pumped into the ground, area wetlands or a reservoir, so that it will follow a pathway similar to normal drinking water.

The city will spend $50,000 this summer to have a consultant study the feasibility of purifying the 13 million gallons of wastewater Escondido processes each day at its sewage treatment plant on Hale Avenue, said Lori Vereker, the city's utilities director.

"We live in a desert, so we have to put our hands on every drop of water that we can," said Vereker, explaining that such a facility could supply nearly 25 percent of the 60 million gallons of water used each day in Escondido. "Our ratepayers should be happy the city is fighting scarcity by looking at every possible option."

The council recently approved new water rates that aim to increase conservation by severely punishing excessive users.

Vereker said the new rates were a response to eight consecutive years of state drought, and a 2007 federal court decision that restricts water deliveries from Northern California to save a minnow called the delta smelt.

Escondido is smart to study the possibility of purifying sewer water, said Keith Lewinger, general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.

"The water is perfectly safe and wholesome, but the public doesn't understand that yet," Lewinger said.

Orange County officials managed to quell criticism with a 10-year public information campaign that began shortly after they started planning their facility in the late 1990s, said Shivaji Deshmukh, program manager for the Orange County Water District.

"If anyone describes the process in just one sentence, it's hard to accept," said Deshmukh. "It took us 10 years, but we have shown the public that this process is something they can trust."

Deshmukh said reverse osmosis removes virtually every pharmaceutical and hormone found in water, and that the ultraviolet light and some hydrogen peroxide kill any remaining bacteria or substances.

But not everyone is convinced.

Muriel Watson, co-president of the Revolting Grandmas and a Bonita resident, said Tuesday that her group will continue to fight sewer water purification as they have for several years.

"Why in the hell would we ever want to drink our sewer water?" said Watson. "They don't have tests to go after all the medications in our water. And they certainly don't have long-range tests to find things we don't even know about yet."

Watson's group, which published the book "Toilet to Tap" in 2006, advocates using purified sewer water for irrigation so there is more ordinary drinking water left over.

Councilwoman Olga Diaz said such an approach makes perfect sense to her. However, Diaz said she is also open-minded about the city purifying its sewer water -- as long as she doesn't have to drink it.

"It's more of a personal hangup, but I think I would still have the idea that it was sewer water in the back of my head," she said.

Councilman Sam Abed agreed.

"I can't imagine drinking it on a personal level, but we need to be very creative as a city so we have to look at every alternative," he said.

Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.