Californians are bombarded daily with news about the state’s historic drought. Gov. Brown is calling for mandatory restrictions to reduce California’s water use by a whopping 25 percent.
After reviewing new evidence about alarming shortfalls in the Sierra snowpack, Mr. Brown said: “It’s a different world. We have to act differently.”
The state’s water crisis is forcing Californians to take a fresh, long-overdue and different look at the untapped water resources literally in our backyard.
I am talking about the millions of gallons of wastewater we generate daily in our homes and businesses. After being used only once, it is treated and discharged into the ocean.
Why isn’t this precious water re-used at least once more before it heads to sea?
The answer for years has involved a lack of political will and public acceptance. Those obstacles are losing credibility in the face of our potentially crippling drought.
Fortunately, several water agencies have been ahead of the curve in wastewater recycling innovations.
Even now they are exploring new ways to safely use local wastewater resources to address the immediate drought emergency and the state’s long-range water needs.
One of those agencies is the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.
Lakewood-based, Water Replenishment is charged with the critical job of managing the two giant groundwater basins underlying south Los Angeles County. The groundwater in these Water Replenishment-managed aquifers supplies 40 percent of the drinking water for 4 million residents in 43 cities, including Long Beach, Torrance, Inglewood, Compton, Downey, Norwalk and Gardena.
Water Replenishment’s job is to refill those aquifers to make sure they contain a ready supply of drinking water at all times. In a normal year Water Replenishment purchases 6.8 billion gallons (or 21,000 acre feet) of water imported from the Colorado River and from Northern California to help replenish its aquifers.
Here is the problem: Water Replenishment cannot rely on the availability of water imported from the drought-challenged Colorado River and the environmentally-sensitive — and equally drought-challenged — San Francisco Bay-Delta. Even when available, imported water has become increasingly expensive because of the huge energy costs of transporting that water several hundred miles to Southern California.
Water Replenishment’s answer to these challenges is its Groundwater Reliability Improvement Program.
Under the program, Water Replenishment will eliminate its use of imported water to replenish its groundwater basin aquifers. Instead, it will completely refill those aquifers with purified wastewater.
The Groundwater Reliability Project will use highly advanced treatment processes to purify the wastewater so it meets the same cleanliness standards as imported water. This recycled water is locally available. It would otherwise flow into the ocean if not re-used. Why not use it again?
In October 2013, Gov. Brown said programs like Groundwater Reliability are the future. “California needs more high quality water, and recycling is key to getting there,” he said.
Water Replenishment is ready to begin construction of its Groundwater Reliability recycling project that has been endorsed by health officials and environmental groups.
Groundwater Reliability is not experimental. For more than 50 years, Water Replenishment has been using a blend of recycled wastewater and imported water to refill its aquifers without adverse health consequences.
The practice is time-tested.
Groundwater Reliability will enable Water Replenishment to completely end its dependence on increasingly uncertain and costly supplies of imported water in favor of safe, reliable and affordable recycled wastewater.
Implementation will be a major step toward achieving the water future envisioned by both Gov. Brown and Water Replenishment
Mr. Calderon is the President of the Board of Directors of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.
