San Diego Launches Massive Sewage Treatment Project

After "a lengthy process featuring thorny lawsuits, complex labor deals and an aggressive public education campaign to fight the derogatory early nickname 'toilet to tap,'" San Diego has launched its biggest-ever infrastructure project, "a sewage recycling system that will boost local water independence in the face of more severe droughts caused by climate change." As David Garrick reports, "this fall will mark the start of construction on the system’s three most essential projects," "a $356 million sewage purification plant in western Miramar, a $123 million pipeline through much of Clairemont that will bring sewage to that plant, and a $110 million Morena Boulevard pump station to make that possible."

In response to protests by local residents who worry about disruptions to their neighborhoods, the city "created special 'working groups' to keep residents up to speed on activity." The project, named Pure Water, "will produce 34 million gallons per day of potable drinking water. A larger second phase, slated for completion in 2035, will add another 53 million gallons," reducing San Diego's imported water from 85 percent to under 50 percent.

"In addition to making San Diego’s economy less vulnerable to droughts and sharp cost increases for imported water, the project also will sharply reduce the amount of sewage the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant emits into the ocean," an important selling point since the city faced "constant pressure from federal officials to spend billions upgrading the Point Loma plant to meet the standards of the Clean Water Act."

The project is also expected to provide 4,800 jobs through "a union-friendly Project Labor Agreement," the first in the city's history.

Los Angeles, Orange County, and other local governments across California are implementing their own water recycling projects in a bid to reduce Southern California's water imports and boost the state's water security as it prepares for intensifying climate change and deeper drought.