Water containing wastes – aka wastewater – from residential,
commercial and industrial processes requires treatment to remove
pollutants prior to discharge. After treatment, the water is
suitable for nonconsumption (nonpotable) and even potable use.
In California, water recycling is a critical component of the
state’s efforts to use water supplies more efficiently. The state
presently recycling about 669,000 acre-feet of water per year and
has the potential to reuse an additional two million acre-feet
per year.
Non-potable uses include:
landscape and crop irrigation
stream and wetlands enhancement
industrial processes
recreational lakes, fountains and decorative ponds
toilet flushing and gray water applications
as a barrier to protect groundwater supplies
from seawater intrusion
wetland habitat creation, restoration, and maintenance
[T[o strike oil in America, you need water. Plenty of
it. Today, the insatiable search for oil and gas has
become the latest threat to the country’s endangered aquifers,
a critical national resource that is already being drained
at alarming rates by industrial farming and cities in
search of drinking water. The amount of water consumed by
the oil industry, revealed in a New York Times investigation,
has soared to record levels. … And now, fracking companies
are the ones scrambling for water. A 2016 Ceres
report found that nearly 60 percent of the 110,000 wells
fracked between 2011 and 2016 were in regions with high or
extremely high water stress, including basins in Texas,
Colorado, Oklahoma, and California.
The Tijuana River sewage emergency has reached the state level
once again. All 18 mayors in San Diego County have sent another
letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, asking for his help to
address the ongoing sewage and chemical pollutants flowing into
the ocean from the river. … Paloma Aguirre, the mayor of
Imperial Beach, where beaches have been closed now for 650
consecutive days, said that going to the beach is one of the
last free recreational things people can do, and that issue
affects people living beyond the coast.
The Arizona Water Banking Authority is exploring the
possibility of buying purified wastewater to distribute later –
which would be unprecedented. At the AWBA commission’s meeting
on Sept. 13, new bank manager Rebecca Bernat asked whether she
should look into the possibility of the bank using effluent
water credits. Until 2019, AWBA has only used excess Colorado
River water long-term storage credits. That’s for the Central
Arizona Project water stored in aquifers. Users can get the
water later during a potential shortage by pumping it back out.
Saying this is “a pivotal moment that calls for resolute
action,” all 18 mayors in San Diego County sent a letter last
week to Gov. Gavin Newsom imploring him to declare a state of
emergency over the decades-long sewage crisis at the
border. … But what exactly would a state of emergency
do? And does the sewage crisis meet the criteria? … When
a state of emergency is declared, a lot of red tape is cut. For
example, it could accelerate and simplify the bidding process
for construction contracts and free up federal money for
personnel, equipment and supplies.
San Diego water bills would rise nearly 20 percent under a
rate-increase proposal the City Council is scheduled to
consider Tuesday. The increase, which city officials began
studying last fall, would be the first comprehensive rate hike
approved by the council in nearly eight years. It would include
a 10.2 increase this December and an 8.75 percent jump in
January 2025. City officials say they need additional revenue
increases to cover rising costs for imported water, upgrades to
thousands of aging pipes and a long list of short-term and
long-term capital projects. The capital projects include the
Pure Water sewage-recycling system, which has been under
construction since last year, and upgrades needed to several
aging city dams that state officials have deemed in poor
condition.
For decades, Mexico has dumped millions of gallons of sewage
from the Tijuana River Valley into the Pacific Ocean, without
any concern for the environment. The sewage then moves north,
contaminating the waters of Imperial Beach, and even Coronado.
Year after year, politicians have tried and failed to stop the
sewage. In September 2020, under President Donald Trump,
Congress allocated $300 million to the EPA as part of Trump’s
replacement for NAFTA, the US-Mexico-Canada agreement. Despite
the allocation of funds, the money was halted once the Biden
Administration took over, which is normal procedure. Biden
Administration officials wanted to “re-study” how best to use
the funding, to effectively attack the sewage problem.
California may put oil companies on the financial hook to plug
and clean aging oil fields after lawmakers approved a measure
meant to prevent taxpayers from footing the bill for orphaned
wells. In a year that has been relatively quiet for climate
legislation, the passage of Assembly Bill 1167 on Thursday
night marked a win for environmentalists and communities mainly
around Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley facing methane
leaks from aging oil wells that require costly cleanup.
… Orphaned wells, as they’re called, risk harmful leaks
of oil, polluted water and methane often near residential
areas. According to the Geologic Energy Management Division,
known as CalGEM, California has plugged about 1,400 wells since
1977 at a cost of $29.5 million.
California is looking to boost water supply and considering new
regulations to recycling wastewater straight to your tap. Some
refer to it as toilet to tap, however experts in the field say
this phrase is anything but accurate. … CBS 8 visited
San Diego’s Pure Water project. It’s in phase one of
construction and will supply nearly half of the city’s drinking
water by the end of 2035. The water goes through a rigorous
recycling process. Our crews got to see it all happen at the
Pure Water demonstration site. “Five different treatment
steps,” said Dough Campbell, the deputy director of Pure Water
operations. Campbell said water is treated at a wastewater
plant before it ever arrives to Pure Water. Then the water goes
through a five step process of ozone, biologically active
carbon filters, membrane filters, reverse osmosis and
ultraviolet lighting.
Water and sewer bills in Grover Beach could increase by nearly
20% to make up for a $2 million deficit in revenue, the city
announced Wednesday in a news release. At its Sept. 5 meeting,
the Grover Beach City Council learned about the findings from a
recent utility rate study, heard recommendations and
unanimously instructed the city staff to start the Proposition
218 process, a step in notifying the public about proposed rate
changes, the release said. Prior to the 2023 study, the city
conducted rate studies approximately every five years, with one
conducted in 2021.
Innovative water treatment and desalination technologies hold
promise for building climate resilience, realizing a circular
water economy, and bolstering water security. However, more
research and development is critical not only to radically
lower the cost and energy of such technologies, but to
effectively treat unconventional water sources. Conventional
water supplies, such as fresh water and groundwater, are
typically used once and thrown away, rendering this valuable
and finite resource inaccessible for further use. Since its
launch in 2019, the National Alliance for Water Innovation
(NAWI) has made strides in developing new technologies to
economically treat, use, and recycle unconventional waters
(such as brackish groundwater, municipal and industrial
wastewater, and agricultural run-off), which could point to a
future where water equity and security is accessible to all.
Joe and Jennifer Montana are among the people suing San
Francisco, alleging city departments did nothing to prevent
“torrents of water and untreated sewage” from flooding their
homes. The lawsuit, filed in the San Francisco County Superior
Court on Aug. 24, was brought by dozens of families who live,
rent or own property in the Marina District. The families
allege that the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and
Department of Public Works, as well as contractors they hired,
knowingly allowed negligent conditions to develop in their
neighborhood. … This problem came to a head during
winter storms over the past two years, the families say. The
suit claims 4.5 million gallons of “untreated
wastewater” flooded homes in Oct. 2021, and “torrents of
water and untreated sewage” inundated their properties again in
the storms of December 2022 and this past January.
On February 27, 2023, in a much anticipated decision,
California’s Second District Court of Appeal overruled the
trial court by determining that the State Water Resources
Control Board (“State Water Board”) did not violate its duty to
prevent waste and unreasonable use of water when it declined to
investigate wastewater discharges from four Los Angeles area
Publicly Owned Treatment Works (“POTWs”). The Court found that
the State Water Board’s duty under state law to prevent waste
and unreasonable use of water is “highly discretionary” and
does not require an investigation or assessment of every
allegation of unreasonable use. The Appeals Court updated its
decision on June 2, 2023. (Los Angeles Waterkeeper v. State
Water Resources Control Board, 92 Cal.App.5th 230 (2d Dist.
2023).)
California is investing $3 million in an effort to allow
researchers to predict when and where ocean waters near
Imperial Beach may be contaminated. The ocean off the coast of
Imperial Beach has suffered decades of contamination which
includes trash, toxic chemicals and untreated sewage runoff.
Last week, homes in Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, San Diego and
on the Silver Strand were under a boil-water order because a
test sample came back positive for E. coli contamination. The
order was lifted this past weekend after additional tests found
the water to be safe.
Population growth and climate change are stretching America’s
water supplies to the limit, and tapping new sources is
becoming more difficult each year—in some cases, even
impossible. New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Colorado are
facing the nation’s most significant strains on water supplies.
But across the entire American Southwest, water stress has
become the norm. … Farmers use the vast majority of
water withdrawn from the Colorado River to irrigate
crops—and 70 percent of that is for crops like
alfalfa and hay used to feed cattle. The river also supplies
drinking water to 40 million people in the Southwest,
and in 2022, Lake Mead—which the Colorado feeds—shrank to
its lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s.
Coal mining depleted areas of a critical aquifer in the Black
Mesa region of the Navajo Nation, but a federal agency didn’t
consider the losses environmentally damaging, researchers
concluded in a new study of the aquifer in northern Arizona.
The researchers detailed what they said were failures by the
federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to
hold the Peabody mining company responsible for the
environmental effects of coal mining in the Black Mesa area.
The findings of the study, conducted by the Institutes for
Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, didn’t surprise Nicole
Horseherder, executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání, a group
working to protect Black Mesa water, among other things.
Earlier this summer, state water officials introduced draft
regulations that, if passed, would allow purified wastewater to
be directly introduced to drinking supplies. Currently,
purified wastewater has to be introduced to environmental
buffers like groundwater aquifers before being added to
drinking supplies, but the new regulations would allow treated
water to bypass this step after undergoing additional
purification processes.
When recycled for drinking, the millions of gallons of water
that Bay Area residents flush down toilets and showers every
day could be cleaner than the pristine Hetch Hetchy water that
flows from many taps in the region, according to a top
California water official. … Recycled water for human
consumption … will be so clean that workers will have to add
minerals to it, because the purification process strips the
water of necessary minerals that make it drinkable. But
recycling the region’s used water for drinking, a process
called “direct potable reuse,” is not happening anywhere in the
Bay Area — at least not yet.
Toxic chemicals have been leaking into the groundwater under
and around the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport for
about five decades. It’s not the only airport in the state
dealing with this contamination, but it is the first to address
the problem with a formal plan. That’s because the
contamination impacted dozens of private wells for homes and
businesses. Many affected residents feel like the process is
moving too slowly. … But the foam is full of harmful
chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
They’re often called “forever chemicals” because they don’t
break down in the environment. … Beginning in 2019, the
State Water Board ordered 30 airports in California to
investigate PFAS contamination. According to the board, all of
them showed some level of impact. As for the SLO airport,
a vast majority of the more than 70 wells in the area were
contaminated.
California produces millions of tons of hazardous waste every
year – toxic detritus that can leach into groundwater or blow
into the air. It’s waste that can explode, spark fires, eat
through metal containers, destroy ecosystems and sicken people.
It’s dangerous material that we have come to rely on and ignore
– the flammable liquids used to cleanse metal parts before
painting, the lead and acid in old car batteries, even the
shampoos that can kill fish. It all needs to go somewhere. But
over the past four decades, California’s facilities to manage
hazardous waste have dwindled. What’s left is a tattered system
of older sites with a troubling history of safety violations
and polluted soil and groundwater, a CalMatters investigation
has found.
Reclamation recently awarded the Sacramento Regional County
Sanitation District $29.9 million to help fund Harvest Water.
The recycled water program will provide a safe and reliable
supply of tertiary-treated water to agriculture and habitat
lands in southern Sacramento County, while also reducing the
reliance on groundwater pumping and resulting in increased
groundwater levels.
The red tide that gave East Bay waters a light brown sheen
earlier this month is likely over, declared the environmental
watchdog group San Francisco Baykeeper Monday. “I would say
this bloom is done for now,” said the group’s staff scientist
Ian Wren on a boat under the eastern half of the Bay Bridge,
where the water was olive green instead of a murky tea color
brought on by the bloom. … Even though the red tide has
dissipated, Eileen White, executive officer of the San
Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, is hesitant
“to declare victory.” … Last year the red tide —
literally billions of tiny algae called Heterosigma
akashiwo — killed an immeasurable amount of fish. This
year, the algae killed fewer than 100, according to a
state-run citizen science project. Sitings of important Bay
Area species, including sturgeons, bat rays and crabs, were
among the dead.
Three years on from the CZU Complex Lightning Fire, the state
of California has finally given approval for the Big Basin
Water Company to once again begin operating the local sewer
system. The approval was received by the company in an email
Wednesday. Homeowners say one of the obstacles to rebuilding
after the fires has been the county was not approving their
building permits because sewer lines were not
connected. Now, Big Basin Water Company, which is in
charge of the sewer plant in the area, says the state just
cleared them to operate again and says that will help
streamline the permit process for homeowners.
Momentum is building for a unique
interstate deal that aims to transform wastewater from Southern
California homes and business into relief for the stressed
Colorado River. The collaborative effort to add resiliency to a
river suffering from overuse, drought and climate change is being
shaped across state lines by some of the West’s largest water
agencies.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.
Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.
Blasted by sun and beaten by waves,
plastic bottles and bags shed fibers and tiny flecks of
microplastic debris that litter the San Francisco Bay where they
can choke the marine life that inadvertently consumes it.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was
appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the
United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees
myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to
sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado
River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other
rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be
named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the
commission’s 129-year history.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Imported water from the Sierra
Nevada and the Colorado River built Southern California. Yet as
drought, climate change and environmental concerns render those
supplies increasingly at risk, the Southland’s cities have ramped
up their efforts to rely more on local sources and less on
imported water.
Far and away the most ambitious goal has been set by the city of
Santa Monica, which in 2014 embarked on a course to be virtually
water independent through local sources by 2023. In the 1990s,
Santa Monica was completely dependent on imported water. Now, it
derives more than 70 percent of its water locally.
In rural areas with widely dispersed houses, reliance upon a
centralized
sewer system is not practical compared to individual
wastewater treatment methods. These on-site management facilities
– or septic systems – are more commonplace given their simpler
structure, efficiency and easy maintenance.
Microplastics – plastic debris
measuring less than 5 millimeters – are an
increasing water quality concern. Entering the water as
industrial microbeads or as larger plastic litter that degrade
into small pellets, microplastics come from a variety of
consumer products.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of water determines the
impact of decaying matter on species in a specific ecosystem.
Sampling for BOD tests how much oxygen is needed by bacteria to
break down the organic matter.
Point sources release pollutants from discrete conveyances, such
as a discharge pipe, and are regulated by federal and state
agencies. The main point source dischargers are factories and
sewage treatment plants, which release treated
wastewater.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to California
Wastewater is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the history of wastewater
treatment and how wastewater is collected, conveyed, treated and
disposed of today. The guide also offers case studies of
different treatment plants and their treatment processes.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
Wastewater management in California centers on the collection,
conveyance,
treatment, reuse and disposal of wastewater. This process is
conducted largely by public agencies, though there are also
private systems in places where a publicly owned treatment plant
is not feasible.
In California, wastewater treatment takes place through 100,000
miles of sanitary sewer lines and at more than 900 wastewater
treatment plants that manage the roughly 4 billion gallons of
wastewater generated in the state each day.
