EDITORIAL BOWL GAMES CITY LEADERS SET THEIR SIGHTS ON REVIVING TOILET-TO-TAP.

IF we take Los Angeles Department and Water and Power officials at their word, the San Fernando Valley has little to worry about regarding the possible return of ``toilet-to-tap.''

But who in their right mind would take any L.A. city officials at their word?

It's city officials who originally concocted the scheme to pump recycled wastewater into our faucets, a dream they put on hold only because it drove so many Vals into the arms of the independence movement.

The timing of their announcement about new plans for maximizing the city's use of recycled water is telling. Now that secession is dead, they no doubt hope that the dream of ``purified'' water pouring into our kitchen sinks can be rekindled.

Not that they're saying as much. For now, the DWP plans to use the water for irrigating city golf courses and as an industrial coolant - a prudent water-management proposal that would free up potable water for residential use.

That's a sensible, unobjectionable idea. The question is: Is it a decoy for a senseless, highly objectionable second stage that would involve - both literally and figuratively - forcing contaminated water down our throats?

The fact that the DWP is going forward with its latest recycling scheme without any public discussion is ample evidence that its management is just as arrogant as ever and - like most of City Hall - it regards the public as its enemy.

The infrastructure for the current water-reclamation plan is virtually identical to that proposed for toilet-to-tap. And once the system is in place, it's easy to imagine that city leaders, citing Southern California drought conditions, could propose putting it to more extensive (read: residential) use.

It's situations such as these, where the taint of bad government corrupts otherwise worthwhile policies, that spawn NIMBYism. Fearing that the DWP's reclamation plans could lead to toilet-to-tap, some Vals might be tempted to fight the plans from the outset.

That would be a mistake. The city must find more creative solutions to its water needs, and using reclaimed water for nondrinking purposes is chief among them.

To flip the switch for toilet-to-tap, the DWP must first obtain dumping rights to spreading fields near Hansen Dam, which would enable the water to filter down into the Valley's water table and eventually be retrieved for drinking water and other uses.

Until that happens - and Valley residents must work together to make sure it doesn't - toilet-to-tap will remain nothing more than a pipedream among the city's downtown elite.

But the key is organization.

The only reason toilet-to-tap was scuttled the first time around is that Valley residents were so angry that their elected leaders were afraid of the fallout and actually stood up for the community. An aroused and organized public is the only protection the community has to prevent City Hall from trampling on their rights and interests.

Unless Valley residents stay vigilant and united in their goals, City Hall will be free to exploit and abuse the Valley, just as it has for the last half-century.

Without a strong, organized Valley movement, toilet-to-tap will become a reality, and only the first of many more such outrages to come.