Colorado River shortages drive major advances in recycled sewage water use
After more than two decades of drought, water utilities serving the largest urban regions in the arid Southwest are embracing a drought-proof source of drinking water long considered a supply of last resort: purified sewage. Water supplies have tightened to the point that Phoenix and the water supplier for 19 million Southern California residents are racing to adopt an expensive technology called “direct potable reuse” or “advanced purification” to reduce their reliance on imported water from the dwindling Colorado River. … Communities in California could see a major advance in wastewater reuse as soon as next Tuesday (Dec. 19). State regulators that day are expected to adopt rules that will allow cities for the first time to pipe highly purified sewage water directly into drinking water supplies. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has plans well underway to build one of the world’s largest wastewater purification plants. It expects to release the project’s environmental review next year.
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