Second-Class Water, First Class Idea

Millions of gallons of water are literally washed down the drain and out to sea in California every day--in a California that is desperately short of water. This wasted water is being recaptured, recycled and reclaimed--in relatively small amounts--so that it can be used again.

The California Legislature and Gov. George Deukmejian now have an opportunity to encourage the large-scale reuse of treated sewage and other waste water by approving a proposed $200-million bond issue for the 1990 election ballot. This rather modest down payment, if approved by voters, will pay significant dividends over the next 20 years in the form of greater water security for the state.

There is nothing new about using reclaimed water. Treated sewage effluent has been used for landscape irrigation in Southern California since the 1920s. But only now is reclaimed waste water being viewed as a significant supply of “new” water that can offset the shortages that face California. The California Assn. of Reclamation Entities of Water says that proposed projects could generate nearly 700,000 acre-feet of water a year if all were built. That amount would meet the needs of nearly 3 million Californians annually.

Generally, reclaimed water is not intended for in-home consumption. The water may be safe to drink, but health codes limit its use. Still, every gallon of reclaimed water put to use watering a golf course or a park frees up a gallon of drinkable water for homes, businesses and industry.

Several far-sighted sanitation districts already have active reclamation projects. The County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County generate up to 60,000 acre-feet a year for replenishment of ground-water aquifers. The Irvine Ranch Water District in Orange County, a water reclamation pioneer, now is experimenting with dual piping systems that will allow reclaimed water to be used in toilets in new office buildings. An estimated 13% of San Diego County’s supply is expected to come from reclaimed water within 20 years.

There is a ready supply available: the output of public sewage-treatment plants. But putting reclaimed water to use is costly. The most highly treated effluent has the broadest application--clean enough, for instance, to be sprayed directly onto food crops. This degree of treatment requires expensive facilities. Building the separate piping system is costly, too. The proposed bond measure, establishing a revolving loan fund, can be critical in providing the seed money needed to get projects off the planning tables. Tax incentives were used in this fashion in the 1970s and 1980s to help fledgling alternative energy projects.

There is nothing experimental about water reclamation, though. It works. The supply is at hand. The need is apparent. With approval of the bond issue this year, many local agencies will have the resources needed to complete the cycle.