Southern California water agencies accelerate reuse and recycling projects

As the Colorado River becomes a less and less reliable source of water, Southern California water agencies are bracing for necessary cuts in imported water and building more water treatment plants that can recycle and reuse water.

As Pam McFarland explains in Engineering News-Record, cities like Los Angeles, which imports 70% of its water, are building multibillion-dollar programs to treat and recycle wastewater for public consumption. "More municipal agencies are implementing indirect potable reuse projects to treat water to drinking water standards and filter it through spreading grounds, groundwater basins, injection wells or aquifers before the new supply enters the drinking water distribution system. Many of those same agencies are contemplating direct potable, where the water flows directly into drinking water pipes, down the road."

The Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Malibu is experimenting with an offshore desalination project that could produce about one million gallons of water per day while reducing the environmental impacts of onshore desalination plants.