Recycled wastewater, or "direct potable reuse," proved successful in Orange County, and following the driest year on record in California, more cities are looking to implement water purification facilities.

Jo-Lynn Otto reports on the steps underway in two of the Silicon Valley’s larger cities to drought proof their water supplies by bringing wastewater treatments facilities online. To do so, Sunnyvale and San Jose have consulted with Orange County, which launched its own state-of-the-art water purification facility in 2008.
“Sunnyvale already has a system to recycle water back to the grid for landscaping and irrigation, and there are plans to eventually use the city’s treated wastewater for drinking…Officials with Sunnyvale and the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) call it ‘drought-proof.’” The SCVWD expects to have a direct potable reuse system online fir that city within seven years.
In San Jose, a “brand new water purification facility is about to go online. The plant will capture the effluent from the city’s sewage treatment plant, which releases about 35 billion gallons of water per year into the South Bay and directs it back into municipal use. The recycled water will not be drinkable, but SCVWD officials say it will be clean. The additional treatment needed to make the water potable is just another step around the corner.” The Advanced Water Purification Center, as it is called, will “produce about eight million gallons of clean water per day by June.”
Wastewater facilities are expected to scale up across the state, enough so that “[an] effort is now underway…to draft a set of safety standards that would allow the Department of Public Health to regulate and permit the operation of direct potable reuse facilities.”
FULL STORY: The Drought-Proof Water Supply

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
planning NEXT
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie