The City of Lathrop has taken another step towards achieving
the long-awaited goal of being able to discharge tertiary
treated wastewater into the San Joaquin River. With the
approval of the Lathrop City Council, the city is now in a
contract with Ascent Environmental to initiate the
environmental documentation necessary to acquire the permit to
discharge of water from the city’s water treatment plant into
the river – a move that could pay sweeping dividends to the
city in the future.
Less water used in the home for showers, clothes washing and
toilet flushing means less water flowing out and pushing waste
through the sewers. That has resulted in corroded wastewater
pipes and damaged equipment, and left sewage stagnating and
neighborhoods stinking. … It’s a complex problem with no easy
answers.
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.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer touted an infrastructure investment of
more than $700 million, the largest in the city’s history. A
large portion of that spending will fund construction of the
Pure Water program, which the city says will produce one-third
of San Diego’s drinking water supply by 2035.
The San Francisco Peninsula city opened its $30 million sewage
sludge processing facility, replacing an incinerator operating
since 1972. As part of Palo Alto’s regional water quality
control plant, the project funded by California Water Board
loans is designed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, eliminate a hazardous waste stream and reduce energy
costs.
The water district would reroute an average 2.32 million
gallons a day of the about 8 million gallons a day of treated
wastewater otherwise discharged into the Monterey Bay Marine
Sanctuary. … Pure Water Soquel’s final product would then be
pumped back into underground aquifers, depleted due to decades
of overpumping, to replenish the Mid-County region’s major
drinking supply.
Wastewater agencies produce highly treated water that is
increasingly being reused as a water supply. While it’s still
only a small portion of overall water use, the use of recycled
water has nearly tripled since the 1980s―and is continuing to
rise as water agencies seek to meet the demands of a growing
population and improve the resilience of their water supplies.
A congressional bill includes almost $14 million in funding for
water projects in the Central Valley and Northern California.
Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, said he was successful in working
the funding into an Energy and Water Development appropriations
bill that includes spending for infrastructure across the
nation.
Billions of gallons of treated wastewater is dumped into our
California coast each day, and with it, billions of resident
dollars are quite literally going to waste. Why aren’t we
utilizing available solutions to stop this sewage discharge and
capitalize on our people’s investment in clean drinking water?
The idea was to count the reductions in water consumption
thanks to new irrigation sources, and count that water toward
the city’s water yearly water allowance. After that, the city
would make those excess water credits available for sale to the
residents and businesses that had languished on the city’s
water waiting list, sometimes for years.
Locking in a $3.2 million sale price, the Soquel Creek Water
District board will enter an initial five-month “option to
purchase” agreement to buy a nearly 2-acre parcel in Live Oak.
The purchase option period … is designed to give district
officials time to survey the 2505 Chanticleer Ave. land,
assessing its ability to serve as home to the proposed Pure
Water Soquel plant.
In California, treated wastewater also is a critical source of
water for the environment, and, increasingly, a source for
recycled water. Climate change is worsening water scarcity and
flood risks. Advancements in engineering and technology can
help prepare wastewater agencies for a changing climate. But
significant shifts in policy and planning are needed to address
these challenges.
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Cucamonga Valley Water
District and the City of Fontana held a groundbreaking ceremony
for the Village of Heritage Recycled Water Project in the
northwestern area of the city. About 8,200 linear feet of
pipeline will be installed in an effort to decrease the use of
imported water in Fontana, officials said. The pipeline will be
an extension of the existing Baseline recycled water
pipeline…
Despite cost increases and weather-related delays, construction
of the 1.6 billion-gallon Trampas Canyon Reservoir in south
Orange County is well underway and officials continue pointing
to long-term savings to be gleaned by reducing the need for
imported water. … Construction costs have soared from the
2016 estimate of $56 million to $83 million today…
Mayor Eric Garcetti Monday unveiled a Green New Deal for Los
Angeles, setting aggressive new environmental goals in a range
of areas, including electric autos, air quality, trees and
public transit. … The plan includes a reiteration of some
previous commitments, but also sets some new benchmarks,
including sourcing 70% of L.A.’s water locally and
recycling 100% of all wastewater for beneficial reuse by 2035.
Cal Am is seeking California Public Utilities Commission
approval to start raising local customers’ rates by May 11 to
pay for the 7-mile pipeline from Seaside to Pacific Grove,
which is in operation and is designed to allow pumping of new
desalinated and recycled water sources from the Seaside basin
to local customers.
The current five members of the Montecito Water Board ran as
slate candidates in 2016 and 2108, and they won election
largely on the promise of recycling treated wastewater for
irrigation. A group of wealthy donors poured $200,000 into
their campaigns. Yet the new board seems in no hurry to get the
job done.
The dominant water issue facing our community and every
community in California today is the insecurity of the water
supply. The California Legislature is facing up to the serious
need to take less water from the surface and groundwater for
human use to preserve wildlife habitats and industries such as
fishing. Both depend upon water filling the streams and
waterways that ultimately find their way to the ocean.
In an effort to end Thousand Oaks’ near total reliance on
imported water, public works staff is asking the City Council
to commit $16.6 million over the next two years to build a
groundwater treatment plant at the city’s publicly owned golf
course. The Los Robles Greens Golf Course Groundwater
Utilization Project—which will be offset with an estimated $6
million in State Water Project (Prop. 1) grants—is the single
most expensive item on the city’s proposed $97-million 2019-21
capital improvement program budget…
Currently, the city has two significant environmental impact
reports, which CEQA requires, making their way through the
development process. One is for a plan to build a 7-mile
pipeline to tap into Ventura’s long-held investment in state
water. … The other project would capture effluent from
Ventura’s wastewater treatment plant, treat it and turn it into
drinking water.
San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer unveiled his proposed budget
for fiscal year 2020 on Thursday, saying it includes the
highest infrastructure investment in the city’s history. …
The budget includes an infrastructure investment of $715.8
million, an increase of nearly 300% over the $179.4 million
infrastructure allocation in the city’s fiscal year 2014 budget
… More than half of that is earmarked for the city’s Pure
Water program, which aims to recycle sewage into drinking
water.
Statewide leaders in agriculture recently launched an
initiative to clean oilfield wastewater for use in arid Western
states, hoping to reduce the region’s carbon footprint and
improve the lives of ranchers and farmers.
On 177 acres situated between San Clemente’s Talega community
and Ortega Highway, mountainous earthworks are taking shape.
Santa Margarita Water District … is building a
1.6-billion-gallon reservoir. When completed in 2020, Trampas
Canyon Reservoir, less than a half-mile north of Talega, will
be able to store recycled wastewater collected from as many as
five South Orange County treatment plants.
Two pieces of legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House
of Representatives will help more communities modernize their
water management strategies to include water recycling and we
urge Congress to pass them.
City officials approved a plan for a new groundwater
sustainability project, hoping it will be a solution to
increase the supply of groundwater and find a place for excess
effluent water coming to the Tehachapi Waste Water Treatment
Plant. The benefits will not appear for decades, when the
project is complete.
The Escondido City council has decided to move forward with
building a recycled water treatment plant off Washington
Avenue, in the western part of the city in an industrial area
where, unlike two other locations, there aren’t any residents
nearby to complain. The council on Wednesday unanimously
approved spending $3 million for initial engineering, design
and pre-construction costs.
As Secretary, Jared Blumenfeld oversees the state’s efforts to
fight climate change, protect air and water quality, regulate
pesticides and toxic substances, achieve the state’s recycling
and waste reduction goals, and advance environmental justice.
… Blumenfeld joined TPR for an exclusive interview to discuss
the administration’s priorities…
San Diego water customers will soon pay $6 to $13 more a month
to fund the first part of the city’s new recycled water
project, according to a newly released estimate. The city is
working on a multibillion-dollar plan to purify enough sewage
to provide a third of the city’s drinking water by 2035.
Eastern Municipal Water District officials celebrated
groundbreaking today for EMWD’s third water treatment facility
at its complex serving Menifee and Perris on Murrieta Road. The
plant will significantly increase the amount of drinkable water
for the area…by removing salt from brackish groundwater basin
water and exporting the salt through a regional brine line.
Behind every toilet flush and faucet turn that draws on a
public water system, there’s an entire industry making sure the
water meets certain standards. … But McKeon and others in the
field worry about a looming shortage of water-treatment plant
operators, as a wave of older operators hits retirement age.
McKeon fears that in the next 10 years, there won’t be enough
operators to monitor and control every public water system
adequately.
The City of Oceanside is taking control of its water destiny,
investing in a facility to purify recycled water from homes.
“It’s not being used, it’s really a waste. A lot of that water
is going out to the ocean and it’s really a precious resource,”
said Cari Dale, Water Utilities Director for the city. This
Fall they’ll break ground on the Pure Water Oceanside facility,
which will sit right next to the San Luis Rey Water Reclamation
Facility.
The idea of a recycled water plant project has been around for
more than 10 years, with the original idea coming from the
community. Through the years, staff has looked at various
locations, including a combined project with Naval Base
Coronado, and determined the golf course location to be the
best choice.
California American Water has notified the state Public
Utilities Commission it does not plan to pursue a Pure Water
Monterey expansion proposal, at least for now, arguing that its
proposed Monterey Peninsula desalination project is still on
schedule and noting an absence of detailed information on the
proposal, as well as an apparent increase in the cost of the
recycled water project.
Three times now, Escondido has proposed building a large
recycled water treatment plant on lots along Washington Avenue,
first near its eastern terminus, the second time in the middle
of the city, and now near the western end of the street. …
The water plant is needed to divert used water from being
dumped into the ocean and to bring less expensive,
higher-quality recycled water to avocado farmers in the eastern
and northern parts of the city.
Ventura has released reports detailing the environmental
impacts of two sizable projects expected to increase the city’s
water supply and reliability… One involves tapping into the
city’s long-held investment into state water. The other project
would capture effluent from Ventura’s wastewater treatment
plant, treat it and turn it into drinking water.
Poseidon is a bad deal for ratepayers. The study by the experts
at MWDOC ranked Poseidon dead last among local water projects
based on cost. Even after demanding a $400 million subsidy
financed by Southern California water users, Poseidon’s water
is still overpriced, costing twice per gallon as much as some
of the conservation, recycling and rainwater projects already
in development around our region.
The Imperial Irrigation District is being written out of a
massive, multi-state Colorado River drought plan at the
eleventh hour. IID could sue to try to stop the revised plan
from proceeding, and its board president called the latest
development a violation of California environmental law.
But Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California general manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said
attorneys for his agency, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and
others in a working group are finalizing new documents to
remove IID from the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan.
It seems like a simple question: How many people can Southern
Nevada support with the water it has now? But the answer is far
from easy. The number can swing wildly depending on a host of
variables, including the community’s rates of growth and
conservation and the severity of drought on the Colorado River.
(Last in the paper’s Water
Question series.)
Recycled water’s been such a good deal for Orange County, the
water district is spending $140 million to expand its capacity
to purify wastewater by 30 percent. It starts in Fountain
Valley where the water district operates a 24-acre facility
that takes sewage fom the sanitation plant next door and
converts it into millions of gallons a day of pure H2O. OC
Water District President Shawn Dewane said the cost is 30
percent cheaper than imported water.
The announcement by Mayor Eric Garcetti last month that Los
Angeles will recycle all the wastewater produced at the
Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant by 2035 signals an end to the
era of addressing water shortages by importing water from
far-flung places and initiates a long-anticipated era of
reusing locally available supplies. The shift will require L.A.
residents to understand both the necessity of the plan and the
technology that will produce safe water.
Working under a less-than-four-year deadline, Soquel Creek
Water District is fine-tuning the ‘where’ of its planned water
recycling plant construction. On Tuesday, district officials
will recommend the board split the Pure Water Soquel project
between two sites, with tertiary treatment at the city of Santa
Cruz’s Wastewater Treatment Facility and advanced purification
at the controversial new site in Live Oak.
The announcement by Mayor Eric Garcetti last month that Los
Angeles will recycle all the wastewater produced at the
Hyperion plant by 2035 signals an end to the era of addressing
water shortages by importing water from far-flung places and
initiates a long-anticipated era of reusing locally available
supplies. The shift will require L.A. residents to understand
both the necessity of the plan and the technology that will
produce safe water.
To make a real structural shift, utilities must engage a
broader group of actors in the process, and that is where cap
and trade comes into play, this time for water systems. … A
smattering of cap-and-trade schemes already aim to address
water pollution in various water bodies. Yet most such trading
programmes have focused on water quality. Now their frameworks
must be expanded to account for water quantity, encouraging
efficiency, reinvestment, and supply diversification.
Like its world-famous parent two blocks away, Monterey Bay
Aquarium’s $42-million education center now under construction
on Cannery Row depends on the quality of its seawater. Unlike
the aquarium’s massive water tanks, which are fed by ocean
water, the compact 25,500-sq-ft center’s eight 200-gallon
saltwater tanks will be part of a closed system, with water
trucked in and processed to maintain the correct temperature
and conditions.
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.)
Facing the threat of stiff fines from state water officials
several years ago, Santa Clarita Valley sewage treatment
officials approved a multimillion-dollar plan to desalinate
water sent downstream from the SCV to Ventura County. Now, SCV
Sanitation District engineers say the costs from lawsuits over
their approved plans are forcing leaders to scuttle a recycled
water project on top of the delays to a chloride-compliance
project.
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.
The most eco-friendly wastewater treatment plant in the
Northern San Joaquin Valley will be Manteca’s by the time 2020
rolls around. Not only is the treated water returned to the San
Joaquin River meeting the latest standards established by the
state for water quality, but within six months or so methane
gas — a major byproduct of the treatment process that typically
has to be burned — will no longer contribute to valley air
quality issues.
The San Diego County Water Authority’s General Manager notified
the region’s water board on Wednesday that she is retiring.
Maureen Stapleton has held the top job at the agency for more
than two decades. She led the Water Authority through the
complicated settlement negotiations surrounding the Colorado
River. Stapleton also encouraged projects like the Carlsbad
Desalination plant as a way to diversify the region’s water
supply.
In December, the city began delivering recycled water through
its purple pipeline to the Tulare Irrigation District (TID)
following approval by the Department of Drinking Water (DDW).
Under an agreement signed in 2013, the city is obligated to
deliver 11,000 acre feet of recycled water to TID per year in
exchange for 5,500 acre feet of surface water used to recharge
the city’s groundwater. Since 2016, the city has received
enough surface water from TID to off set one year of
groundwater pumping for the entire city.
Although ending groundwater overdraft will bring long-term
benefits, it entails near-term costs. We find that only about a
quarter of the Valley’s groundwater deficit can be filled with
new supplies at prices farmers can afford. The rest must come
from managing demand. We estimate that ending the overdraft
will require taking at least 500,000 acres of irrigated
cropland out of production.
The Pismo Beach City Council wants to build a $28 million
facility that will purify Pismo Beach and South San Luis Obispo
County Sanitation District wastewater and inject it into the
Santa Maria groundwater basin. If completed, it will prevent
salt water from seeping into one of South County’s water
sources and provide more water to South County residents.
In 2014 Santa Monica embarked on a course to be virtually
water independent through local sources by 2023. … The
switch has been accomplished through an extensive plan that
encompasses small measures like toilet replacements, household
rain harvest barrels and aggressive conservation to large
measures like cleaning up contaminated groundwater, capturing
street runoff and recycling water.
NRDC is sponsoring legislation this year by Senator Hertzberg
and Senator Wiener (SB 332, the Local Water Reliability Act)
designed to help sustain water reliability and protect the
environment. … The bill challenges water supply agencies
and wastewater treatment plant operators to undertake a joint
effort to plan and implement a conservation and discharge
reduction strategy that reduces wasteful and polluting
discharges to the ocean by 95% in 20 years.
Too often, entrenched conflicts that pit water user against
water user block efforts to secure a sustainable, equitable,
and democratic water future in California. Striking a balance
involves art and science, compassion and flexibility, and
adherence to science and the law. Felicia Marcus is a public
servant unknown to many Californians. But as she concludes her
tenure as chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, we
owe her a debt of gratitude for consistently reaching for that
balance.
In a recent paper, Stephanie Pincetl, director of the
California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA, and
co-authors argue that investments made over the years to
fortify the city’s supply with additional imported water have
not solved LA’s water shortages. … The paper asserts that LA
could become water self-reliant by strategically investing in
local supplies, and offers several concrete strategies for
improving LA’s water security.
The new report, “Sustainable Landscapes on Commercial and
Industrial Properties in the Santa Ana River Watershed,”
explores how landscape conversion on commercial and industrial
properties can reduce water use, increase stormwater capture
and groundwater recharge, improve water quality, and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use.
Back in 2015, the city of San Diego expected it would get about
a third of its drinking water from recycled sewage within 20
years and could do so for about $3 billion in construction
costs. Now, the city is looking to spend no less than $4.8
billion and perhaps as much as $9 billion on the project,
according to city financial documents, including previously
undisclosed internal estimates from the Public Utilities
Department.
Just over half the city’s infrastructure needs are in the
city’s Public Utilities Department, which is responsible for
sewage, water and the city’s ambitious water recycling program,
Pure Water. The city expects to have all the money it needs in
those areas because they are funded by water and sewer rates.
The picture is far less rosy for infrastructure that has less
reliable revenue sources. The city is short $719.8 million for
stormwater infrastructure — by far the biggest unfunded capital
need in the city.
Water sustainability continues to be a complex issue and will
require young, innovative minds to tackle it. This was the
theme of the 2019 Innovators High Desert Water Summit, held
Friday at High Desert Church. Hosted by the Mojave Water
Agency, the event was titled “How Generation Z Will Save the
Future of Water in California.” About 320 students, parents,
and teachers from schools all over San Bernardino County
attended.
Once criticized for being a profligate user of water,
fast-growing Phoenix has taken some major steps — including
banking water in underground reservoirs, slashing per-capita
use, and recycling wastewater — in anticipation of the day when
the flow from the Colorado River ends.
A leader in a grassroots group pushing for interagency
transfers to solve regional water supply shortfalls has filed
an environmental lawsuit against Soquel Creek Water District.
The civil lawsuit … takes aim at the water district’s Pure
Water Soquel project, which its board of
directors approved in December. The suit points to alleged
shortcomings in Pure Water Soquel’s state-mandated
environmental impact report.
Sponsor one of the largest one-day water conferences in
Southern California with key decision-makers from across the
watershed. Be recognized as an industry leader; gain
exposure for your organization; receive complimentary
conference tickets. At the conference you will be
provided an exhibit space, which offers the chance to network
and discuss ideas and opportunities with conference attendees
during the morning and afternoon networking sessions.
The sewer rate increases approved for Morro Bay will go into
effect in July, despite opposition from a group that earlier
claimed it got enough protest signatures to stop the rate hike.
Morro Bay City Manager Scott Collins clarified in a recent
report that the protest was unsuccessful and the measure will
go into effect with customers seeing the additional charge on
their August bill.
These red-state GOP governors are not taking aim at
greenhouse-gas emissions like their blue-state Republican
counterparts. Still, environmentalists should not dismiss their
momentum on water. In several states won by Trump, water,
literally a chemical bond, is also proving a bond that brings
disparate people, groups, and political parties together around
shared concerns for the Everglades, the Great Lakes, the
Colorado River, and other liquid life systems.
A new bill would create guidelines for reusing water from beer
or wine processing for rinsing equipment and tanks. The bill
was introduced by Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco)
directs the State Water Board, in consultation with the
California Department of Public Health – Food and Drug Branch,
to develop regulations for microbiological, chemical, and
physical water quality and treatment requirements for the
onsite treatment and reuse of process water at breweries and
wineries.
Technology already exists to treat reused water to levels
meeting or exceeding health standards. But adequate technical
capacity is not sufficient. Water reuse can trigger revulsion,
especially when water is reused for drinking or other potable
purposes. This note explores outreach and engagement strategies
to overcome the “yuck factor” and achieve public support for
water reuse.
Far less settled is how Newsom will fill his administration’s
most important positions regarding state water policy. One of
Newsom’s key tests confronts him immediate: State Water
Resources Control Board Chair Felicia Marcus’ term expires this
week.
The new majority on the Escondido City Council
appears poised to rescind the former council’s 2017 decision to
locate a $44 million recycled water plant in the middle of a
residential area. “It’s the wrong location,” newly elected
Mayor Paul “Mac” McNamara said of the site in the center of the
city at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Ash Street.
”It might cost us a few more bucks, but in the long term, it’s
better to have it where it needs to be.”
Arcadis has announced it will partner with Kiewit
Infrastructure West and PERC Water to serve as the progressive
design-build team for the Sustainable Water Infrastructure
Project (SWIP) in the City of Santa Monica, Calif. Currently,
the city partially relies on imported water to meet its
water needs. This project will allow the city to take a major
step toward water independence, supporting existing programs
designed to create a sustainable water supply
Nasdaq, along with Veles Water and WestWater Research, has
announced the launch of the Nasdaq Veles California Water Index
(NQH2O), the first of its kind water index that benchmarks the
price of water in a way that supports price discovery and
enables the creation of a tradable financial instrument.
A Bureau of Reclamation program awards grants to water
districts and other project sponsors seeking to reuse water and
add to supplies. From 1992 through 2017, it awarded about $715
million for 46 construction projects and 71 studies. Nearly all
of the funding—about $703 million—went for construction
projects that recycled water.
John Coates’ laboratory at the University of California,
Berkeley … is growing many different kinds of bacteria,
multiplying in petri dishes at mind-boggling rates. But these
bacteria aren’t out to harm people or animals. In fact, quite
the opposite — they’re hard at work breaking down a dangerous
chemical that pollutes waterways across the United States.
A lawsuit seeking a new environmental report for the
controversial Poseidon desalination plant proposed for
Huntington Beach was rejected by a Sacramento Superior Court
judge on Tuesday. Judge Richard Sueyoshi found the
supplemental report met legal requirements while noting the
2010 study had never been legally challenged.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has named Jared Blumenfeld, a
former Obama administration official and longtime environmental
advocate as the new secretary of the California Environmental
Protection Agency. Blumenfeld, 49, of San Francisco, will run
the agency, known as Cal-EPA, which oversees a broad range of
environmental and public health regulations statewide, on
topics that include air pollution, water pollution, toxics
regulation, pesticides and recycling.
The paper, published in the Journal of Environmental
Management, suggests that eliminating outdoor landscaping and
lawns could reduce water waste by 30 percent.
It recommends importing water only when Los Angeles is not
in a drought, to build a surplus of water for dry years. The
paper also argues that groundwater basins that catch stormwater
could be used to recycle water. However, making these
improvements would require the cooperation of more than 100
agencies.
Montgomery is known for fostering collaborative relationships
among stakeholders and as a leader in protecting and restoring
water quality within California and throughout the Southwest
and the Pacific Islands. He is currently serving as the
Assistant Director of the Water Division in the US
Environmental Protection Agency (Region 9).
There’s every reason to expect that 2019 will be far better,
largely because of Measure W, which was passed by voters in
November. The initiative imposes a Los Angeles County parcel
tax that will generate $300 million per year to reduce
pollution from runoff and capture storm water to add to the
water supply.
This 2-day, 1-night tour offers participants the opportunity to
learn about water issues affecting California’s scenic Central
Coast and efforts to solve some of the challenges of a region
struggling to be sustainable with limited local supplies.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
California voters may experience a sense of déjà vu this year when they are asked twice in the same year to consider water bonds — one in June, the other headed to the November ballot.
Both tackle a variety of water issues, from helping disadvantaged communities get clean drinking water to making flood management improvements. But they avoid more controversial proposals, such as new surface storage, and they propose to do some very different things to appeal to different constituencies.
New state rules adopted in March allow purified water to be
sent right from sewage treatment plants to drinking water
reservoirs, but Sacramento area residents shouldn’t expect to
be swimming in or drinking water that recently swirled through
local sewers any time soon.
New regulations approved Tuesday by the California State Water
Resources Control Board allow treated recycled water to be
added to reservoirs, the source of California municipal
drinking water.
Several parties including the Monterey Peninsula mayors
regional water authority have called for delaying California
American Water’s proposed Marina desalination plant for a year
or more to allow pursuit of a proposed Pure Water Monterey
recycled water expansion and continued settlement talks in an
attempt to avoid litigation.
More than half of a $173.5 million U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency award to California for drinking water and
wastewater infrastructure upgrades will be designated for the
Pure Water Monterey recycled water project.
In downtown San Francisco, a mixed-use 800ft tower nearing
completion at 181 Fremont St. features a water treatment system
that will provide 5,000 gallons a day of recycled water
captured from the building to be used for toilet flushing and
irrigation. That will help save an estimated 1.3 million
gallons of potable water a year.
The Coachella Valley’s biggest water district recycles
wastewater at three of its six sewage treatment plants,
churning out water to irrigate golf courses, parks and lawns at
housing developments. Now it’s proposing to reuse more water by
converting a sewage plant in Thermal to a water-recycling
plant.
Stanford researchers have found that Californians’ views on
recycled water depend heavily on how that water is
eventually used. The study, which appeared in the August
2017 issue of Water and Environment Journal, revealed that
psychological resistance to using treated effluent can be
reduced, to some extent, by explaining the treatment process to
people and informing them of an existing program in
Orange County.
Though it may not stop the state’s Twin Tunnels project from
diverting Delta water down south, Congressman Jerry McNerney
hopes his new bill to invest in recycling projects will ensure
water districts are frugal with the essential, but limited
resource.
Federal and state water-quality regulators have cleared the way
for the city of San Diego to avoid costly upgrades to an
outdated wastewater treatment plant, as long as local officials
continue to pursue a $3 billion water recycling program.
This legislation might be hard to swallow: Lawmakers are
considering a bill that would clear the way for California
communities to put highly treated wastewater directly into the
drinking water supply. … Jennifer Bowles, executive
director of the Water Education Foundation, said the California
public is more open to the idea of recycling water these days
because of the recent five-year drought.
The federal government is poised to invest as much as $492
million to get Pure Water, the city of San Diego’s effort to
turn sewage into drinking water, off the ground. Today, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce
that San Diego is one of a dozen applicants chosen to
participate in a low-interest loan program under the
Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act.
As drought and water shortages become California’s new normal,
more and more of the water that washes down drains and flushes
down toilets is being cleaned and recycled for outdoor
irrigation. But some public officials, taking cues
from countries where water scarcity is a fact of life, want to
take it further and make treated wastewater available for much
more — even drinking.
Hollywood types usually drink bottled water originating from
natural springs, exotic islands or, in the case of Perrier, a
remote village in the south of France. At noon on Wednesday, as
part of a free bottled water giveaway on Hollywood Boulevard,
they’ll have a chance to become the first in the world to chug
purified wastewater sourced from home toilets, showers and
sinks supplied by the Orange County Water District.
Robb Whitaker walked the wooden bridge suspended above an
underground reservoir four stories deep filled with 3 million
gallons of treated sewage water. He liked what he saw during a
VIP tour Friday …
Lauded as a model for regional collaboration and innovation,
and even the “wave of the future” for the rest of California,
the Pure Water Monterey recycled water project was universally
praised by a group of dignitaries at a groundbreaking ceremony
on Friday.
Wastewater recycling is being hailed in many communities as the
answer to ongoing drought problems. By cleaning sewage effluent
to extract pure water, it’s possible to create a sustainable
water supply that is cheaper than seawater desalination or
buying a new water supply. But there’s a little-recognized
downside to water recycling: It may damage wildlife habitats
already imperiled by water scarcity.
Though he knows it makes no financial sense, Sam Lipson
regularly drives to a local sewer plant to haul home free
effluent to irrigate the trees in his yard.
Would you rather drink a cup of recycled wastewater or advanced
purified water? Actually, that’s a trick question – both
terms are often used to talk about the same thing.
It is now possible to imagine a future in which highly treated
wastewater will be plumbed directly into California homes as a
new drinking water supply. On September 8, the State Water
Resources Control Board released a long-awaited report on the
feasibility of so-called “direct potable reuse.”
San Diego is accelerating construction of its landmark water
recycling system and making other changes that will save money,
benefit the environment and make pipeline construction less
disruptive.
The state is currently investigating whether it is feasible to
develop standards for direct potable reuse, which would allow
treated wastewater to be sent direct to customers for drinking
without first being stored in a reservoir or aquifer.
The latest skirmish in the water wars asks the cryptic
question: When is water not really water? The answer, it seems,
is when words in an 83-year-old law – a law conceived long
before the notion that recycled sewage was anything but
disgusting – essentially negate its existence.
California officials this month adopted streamlined permitting
for nonpotable water recycling projects. By the end of this
year, they’re expected to do the same for potable water
recycling. Jennifer West of WaterReuse California explains
what’s ahead.
Drought-stressed Capitol Park will get $1.7 million for a
reclaimed water project in the new state budget, even though
the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal analyst concluded that the
project won’t pencil out for more than a century and a half.
With broad local support for San Diego’s envisioned water
recycling program, Mayor Kevin Faulconer touted the plan again
last week — this time as one of his top-funded efforts to fight
climate change. However, his strategy for pulling off the
so-called Pure Water program isn’t a done deal.
A still-controversial 1992 law intended to boost California’s
striped-bass population can be scaled back, the Obama
administration now believes. … Another bill, by Rep. Doris
Matsui, D-Sacramento, to revise a water-recycling grant program
established in the 1992 law likewise secured administration
support Wednesday.
One of the many new technologies discussed Tuesday at a White
House Water Summit aims to reclaim water from showers and
sinks, clean it and use it for irrigation and flushing toilets,
among other non-potable uses in the same home.
By a unanimous vote, the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water
District, a water wholesaler for about 353 square miles of San
Bernardino County, certified the proposed Sterling Natural
Resources Center project, which would capture and treat East
Valley Water District’s wastewater and add the output to the
Bunker Hill Groundwater Basin, which is at a historic low
level.
Water scarcity, always an issue in California, has preoccupied
policy makers more than usual during a multi-year drought. Many
want the state to consider more opportunities to recycle and
reuse water.
California’s current drought may well be remembered as the
crisis that introduced people to recycled water. All over the
state, water agencies in 2015 began offering customers free
recycled water at designated “fill stations.”
California American Water’s latest Monterey Peninsula water
supply project cost estimates show a larger desalination plant
would cost the same as previous estimates, but a smaller desal
plant would be more expensive. That would potentially squeeze
the cost of a supplemental recycled water project unless it
qualifies for grants and low-cost financing.
Like all ski areas in the Tahoe-Truckee region, Soda Springs
Mountain Resort’s efforts to stretch out its operations during
California’s four-year drought has been an uphill climb.
Construction will begin in January at Carlsbad’s water
recycling plant to increase production capacity from 4 million
gallons a day to 7 million gallons a day by the end of next
year.
Should El Niño not live up to the hype and dump heavy snow on
the Sierra, skiers and sledders at one resort could be gliding
downhill this winter on snow that comes from an unusual source:
purified water from the local sewage-treatment plant.
Unfazed by the taint of “toilet-to-tap,” the Water
Replenishment District of Southern California unveiled another
in a series of water recycling projects Tuesday that will help
end its reliance on imported water and provide
drought-insurance for its customers.
As the worst drought in California history threatens to enter a
fifth straight year, officials are advocating a variety of
water reuse projects they say will reduce Southern California’s
unquenchable thirst for imported water.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an
amended water recycling agreement between the county Water
Resources Agency and the Monterey Regional Water Pollution
Control Agency, the primary backer of the groundwater
replenishment project also known as Pure Water Monterey.
A critical source water agreement for the proposed Monterey
Peninsula groundwater replenishment project, and expanded North
Monterey County agricultural irrigation, is headed to the Board
of Supervisors on Tuesday after the county Water Resources
Agency board blessed it Monday.
San Franciscans who want to conserve water by irrigating their
yards with the runoff from their showers and bathroom sinks
will no longer have to get a $250 permit or inspection from the
city, under legislation introduced Tuesday by Supervisor Scott
Wiener.
Former sewer water was the drink of choice Saturday at an event
in Alivso to show off the county’s new advanced water
purification plant and tout the potential for recycled water.
… The verdict? Many thought it tasted pretty good.
A groundwater replenishment project aimed at providing the
Monterey Peninsula with potable recycled water continued to
forge ahead of California American Water’s desalination project
during a state Public Utilities Commission hearing Monday.
For more than 80 years, the Metropolitan Water District has
paved the way for Southern California’s epic growth by securing
water from hundreds of miles away. This week, the mammoth
agency said it wants to invest closer to home in what would be
one of the world’s largest plants to recycle sewage into
drinking water.
Among the many consequences of California’s severe drought is
an escalating dispute involving San Diego County’s northern and
southern communities over the price of recycled water, which is
treated sewage used primarily for irrigation.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is in
talks with Los Angeles County sanitation districts about
developing what could be one of the largest recycled water
programs in the world.
With California in the fourth year of a drought, a state
lawmaker has introduced a last-minute bill that would require
half of treated wastewater to be used for beneficial purposes,
including landscape watering, by 2026 and 100% usage by 2036.
In a new move to battle the drought, Burbank residents
will get access to free recycled water starting this month and
running through the end of October.
A study published this week in the journal Environmental
Science & Technology found that when highly purified wastewater
was stored in an Orange County aquifer, the water caused
arsenic to escape from clay sediments in a way that naturally
infiltrating water did not.
A new recycled water fill-up station opened in Sonoma Valley
this week, becoming the second facility in the county where
residents can go to get highly treated wastewater to irrigate
their gardens and ornamental landscaping.
When you wash the dishes or flush the toilet, you may think
you’ll never see that water again. In more Inland communities,
the chances are good that you will.
The Coca-Cola Company is years ahead of schedule in its efforts
to replace the water that it uses around the world to make its
beverages, it announced on Tuesday.
In the 1960s, when most of Irvine was farm fields, planners
realized the value of recycling water. In a remarkable act of
foresight, they built an extra set of pipes into plans for the
master-planned city to carry treated wastewater to those
fields.
Officials gathered Wednesday at the Delta-Mendota Canal near
Patterson to mark the latest milestone of the North Valley
Regional Recycled Water Program.
San Diego’s $3.5 billion plan to fight the drought by recycling
sewage into drinking water is forcing state regulators to
rewrite their water recycling rule book.
New legislation in Congress could help accelerate the
construction of wastewater recycling facilities in California
in a bid to improve severe drought conditions in the state.
Modesto is poised to take a big step Tuesday in its project to
send highly treated wastewater to drought-stricken West Side
farmers as soon as 2018, though the Turlock Irrigation District
remains a staunch opponent over concerns of how the project
will affect its groundwater basin.
Recycled water, and more of it, will flow into new corners of
Carlsbad under a recently approved $30 million expansion of the
city’s production and distribution system.
The Berkeley couple – she runs a pre-school, he’s an architect
– are early adopters of a home plumbing do-over that’s becoming
more popular during California’s record four-year dry stretch.
It’s a technology with the potential to ease California’s
colossal thirst and insulate millions from the parched whims of
Mother Nature, experts say. But there’s just one problem — the
“yuck factor.”
The persistent drought has put a new emphasis on using more
recycled water for irrigation, a practice that has long been
allowed for some lawns, vineyards, golf courses and parks in
Sonoma County, but isn’t spreading fast enough for officials in
one city.
Drought-shaming reached a new peak Friday when reports that the
company working to tear down San Francisco’s Candlestick Park
was using drinking water to control dust halted the demolition.
Water spilled out of a spigot, sparklingly clear, into a
plastic cup. Just 45 minutes earlier, it was effluent, piped
over from Orange County’s wastewater treatment plant next door.
“Less watering — less growth,” Public Utilities Director Thomas
Esqueda says. The result could be a blow to City Hall’s efforts
to meet state guidelines for solid-waste recycling and landfill
deliveries.
Seeking to accelerate San Diego’s efforts toward greater water
independence, Mayor Kevin Faulconer will lobby Gov. Jerry Brown
today for financial and regulatory help with the city’s $3.5
billion plan to recycle sewage into drinking water.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Santa Clara Mayor Jamie Matthews
and other Silicon Valley leaders on Monday took big gulps of
recycled water — filtered, cleaned and disinfected sewage — to
show that it is safe and should be a growing part of Silicon
Valley’s drinking water future.
Battles have also commenced over solutions, with proposals for
desalination plants, tunnels and new storage projects competing
for priority. Each merits exploration, but none can be
implemented quickly enough to address our crisis. We can do
better by focusing on strategies within our grasp, starting
with conservation.
Business, however, is booming at the household recycled water
station in Pleasanton where water down the drain is converted
to drought relief for parched lawns and shrubs. Sewer plants in
Martinez and Livermore also have begun giving away reclaimed
water to drive-in customers, and plants in several other
California cities are considering it.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District board Tuesday night
approved a $17.5 million project that will deepen the use of
recycled water in the parched South Bay and make Apple’s
futuristic new campus a little bit greener.
Hoping to save money and time, the Pacific Grove City Council
on Wednesday will consider adopting an ordinance that allows
using a design-build approach on its local water project.
Three thin streams of water fall into a row of steel sinks at
Orange County Water District’s Groundwater Replenishment System
facility in Fountain Valley: one crystal clear, one slightly
yellowed, one a brackish brown-black.
The Bureau of Reclamation and the City of San Bernardino
Municipal Water District (SBMWD) will prepare a combined
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact
Report (EIR) for the Clean Water Factory in San Bernardino
County, California, to comply with both Federal and California
requirements.
A project to build a system for conveying recycled wastewater
from Modesto and Turlock to farmland in western Stanislaus
County won’t have a significant impact on the environment, a
study says.
A local demonstration project announced Tuesday would treat up
to 136,500 gallons per day of oil field wastewater for reuse in
agriculture and steam-based well stimulation.
The Bureau of Reclamation is providing a funding opportunity
for communities in the West which may be seeking new sources of
water supplies using water recycling and reuse technologies.
… This funding opportunity is part of the Department of the
Interior’s WaterSMART initiative, which focuses on improving
water conservation, sustainability and helping water resource
managers make sound decisions about water use.
A proposal to deliver wastewater from a Toro-area community
services district to the regional treatment plant for recycling
could be a key part of any Monterey County Board of Supervisors
approval of the Ferrini Ranch development.
For those who believe technological leaps will rescue society
from a collapsing ecological house, the cluster of monochrome
industrial buildings next to the Orange County Water District
headquarters holds wonders.
This 2-day, 1-night tour traveled through Inland
Southern California to learn about the region’s efforts in
groundwater management, recycled water and other drought-proofing
measures.
Dismissed only a few years ago by residents of California’s
second-largest city, San Diego is joining other California
cities that are taking a closer look at recycling wastewater
for drinking as the state suffers from severe drought.
What comes to mind when you think of purple? Likely you conjure
images of grapes, flowers, or your favorite socks. How about a
purple pipe? Most states require pipes to be colored purple if
they carry reclaimed water. … Reclaimed, or recycled, water
is highly treated wastewater that’s used again for a variety of
purposes such as irrigation, industrial processes, and cooling
towers.
The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking applications from
congressionally authorized sponsors of Title XVI Water
Reclamation and Reuse projects for cost-shared funding to plan,
design or construct their projects.
A demonstration house unveiled in El Dorado Hills last week by
national builder KB Home recycles drain water for toilets and
landscaping and can power itself entirely with solar panels.
… Water recycling has been gaining momentum in
California’s historic drought.
Step by step, sewage flows through the city’s Donald C. Tillman
Water Reclamation Plant in the San Fernando Valley. Ultimately,
the cleaned effluent flows into lakes and rivers.
… Mayor Eric Garcetti, who prefers the term “showers to
flowers” instead of “toilet to tap,” also lobbied for
groundwater cleanup funds.
After the final splash into Burbank’s McCambridge Pool as
summer’s swimming season ended, the more than 200,000 gallons
of water didn’t just gurgle down the drain.
California’s drought has created mandated water conservation
efforts, but some communities in Southern California, from
Huntington Beach to Los Angeles, are doing something extra:
trying to become water independent.
More recycled water will be pumped into Lake Elsinore than in
past years to keep it from drying out, prompting the lake’s
overseers to boost funding for the ongoing replenishment
effort.
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.
20-minute DVD that explains the problem with polluted stormwater,
and steps that can be taken to help prevent such pollution and
turn what is often viewed as a “nuisance” into a water resource
through various activities.
This 7-minute DVD is designed to teach children in grades 5-12
about where storm water goes – and why it is so important to
clean up trash, use pesticides and fertilizers wisely, and
prevent other chemicals from going down the storm drain. The
video’s teenage actors explain the water cycle and the difference
between sewer drains and storm drains, how storm drain water is
not treated prior to running into a river or other waterway. The
teens also offer a list of BMPs – best management practices that
homeowners can do to prevent storm water pollution.
In the West, it is not a matter of if a drought will occur, but
when. In an effort to develop a drought-proof water supply, many
communities are turning to water recycling. Water recycling is
reusing treated wastewater for irrigating golf courses, other
urban landscapes, some crops, wetlands enhancement, industrial
processes and even groundwater recharge. But many people do not
understand how water is treated, recycled and reused, causing
some to oppose new projects.
In the West, it is not a matter of if a drought will occur, but
when. In an effort to develop a drought-proof water supply, many
communities are turning to water recycling. Water recycling is
reusing treated wastewater for irrigating golf courses, other
urban landscapes, some crops, wetlands enhancement, industrial
processes and even groundwater recharge. But many people do not
understand how water is treated, recycled and reused, causing
some to oppose new projects.
This 15-minute video explains in an easy-to-understand manner the
importance of groundwater, defines technical terms, describes
sources of groundwater contamination and outlines steps
communities can take to protect underground aquifers. Includes
extensive computer graphics that illustrate these groundwater
concepts. The short running times makes it ideal for
presentations and community group meetings. Available on VHS and
DVD.
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 Nevada Water provides an
overview of the history of water development and use in Nevada.
It includes sections on Nevada’s water rights laws, the history
of the Truckee and Carson rivers, water supplies for the Las
Vegas area, groundwater, water quality, environmental issues and
today’s water supply challenges.
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.
Title 22 of California’s Water Recycling Criteria refers to
California state guidelines for how treated and recycled water is
discharged and used.
The standards also require the state’s Department of Health
Services to develop and enforce water and bacteriological
treatment standards for water recycling and reuse.
State discharge standards for reclaimed water and its reuse are
regulated by under the Water Recycling Criteria and the 1969
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act–California’s regulatory
framework for water recycling.
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.
Gray water, also spelled as grey water, is water that already has
been used domestically, commercially and industrially. This
includes the leftover, untreated water generated from clothes
washers, bathtubs and bathroom sinks.
This water source is a common way to recycle water and stretch
urban water supplies. As part of this, gray water ‘harvesting’
(the collecting of gray water from sinks, showers, etc.) is
increasingly popular, especially as a way to flush toilets.
This printed issue of Western Water features a
roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources
consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development
with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor
to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial
page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of
research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of
California.
This printed issue of Western Water looks at the energy
requirements associated with water use and the means by which
state and local agencies are working to increase their knowledge
and improve the management of both resources.
When a drought occurs as it has this year, the response is
couched in the three Rs of the waste hierarchy: reduce, reuse and
recycle.
The reduction part is well-known. State and local officials are
urging people to use less water in everything they do, from
landscape irrigation to shorter showers. Spurred by California’s
difficulties, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on June 4 declared a
statewide drought. On July 10, the governor and Sen. Dianne
Feinstein announced their support of the Safe, Clean, Reliable
Drinking Water Supply Act of 2008 – a $9.3 billion bond proposal
that would allocate $250 million for water recycling projects.
This issue of Western Water examines the continuing practice of
smart water use in the urban sector and its many facets, from
improved consumer appliances to improved agency planning to the
improvements in water recycling and desalination. Many in the
water community say conserving water is not merely a response to
drought conditions, but a permanent ethic in an era in which
every drop of water is a valuable commodity not to be wasted.
Water is the true wealth in a dry land – Wallace Stegner
One hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt signed
legislation that changed the course of American history and
permanently altered the landscape of the western United States.
The West of today retains some of the vestiges of the land that
brought the explorers, entrepreneurs and dreamers hundreds of
years ago. Despite the surge in population, vast tracts of
wilderness remain – forests thick with evergreen trees and
seemingly unending open spaces where human inhabitants are few
and far between.
Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999
in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we
are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional
water development of the past has given way to a more
collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment
while stretching available water supplies.
