California IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON : Bills Would Aid Water Recycling

A Southern California congressman introduced two bills in Washington to promote the recycling of sewage and salt water as tools in quenching the state’s thirst for water resources. “Californians let billions of gallons of usable water go to waste each year,” said Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside). “The current five-year drought has demonstrated the critical need to find long-term solutions to our water shortage problems.” One of the bills would direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study a regional “backbone” system to move recycled sewage water from treatment plants to agricultural and recreational facilities. The second bill would direct the National Science Foundation to establish a $6-million research program to study technologies used to convert saline and brackish water into fresh water.