Good news for a parched California

Yesterday President Obama signed into law the historic Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which grants permanent wilderness status to more than 2 million acres in nine states, protects 1,000 miles of river as "wild and scenic," and establishes three new national parks.  This should be good news for veryone.  But the bill also includes some good news for Californians in particular-nine water recycling and water reuse projects in California.  Water recycling entails treating and reusing wastewater for purposes such as agricultural and landscape irrigation, industrial processes, toilet flushing, and recharging groundwater.  Once completed, the nine projects are anticipated to add almost a half a million acre-feet of reclaimed water annually-enough water to supply between a half-million and a million households of four each year-helping to alleviate pressure from California's drought. 

One of the biggest obstacles to using more recycled water has been the lack of infrastructure to deliver the water to customers, because recycled water must be conveyed through separate pipes than drinking water.  The public lands bill will help add some of this much-needed infrastructure.  For instance, the North Bay Water Reuse Authority plans on adding pipelines in Sonoma, Marin, and Napa counties to deliver more recycled water for irrigation of large landscapes like golf courses, schools, and cemeteries.   Oxnard, in Southern California, will collect and desalt groundwater from agricultural areas and deliver the treated water to customers. 

Given California's severe drought, projects that decrease the demand on our current reservoirs are good news.  And water recycling is generally a low-energy, and therefore low CO2, source of water supply, especially in Southern California.  Of course, communities should make sure they are first doing all they can to conserve and use water more efficiently before turning to projects such as desalination, which tend to be energy-intensive and therefore increase greenhouse gas emissions.  But the federal government should be commended for passing legislation that recognizes the importance of treating our water as a precious and limited resource.

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