R2T, Reclaimed Waters To the Tap

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How Gross is Your Tap Water?

A silly question and a significant concern worldwide: it's time to have a serious discussion about reclaimed and bottled water

We are still in a snow drought, in Sierra and Rockies, and as usual we have come back to the same old issue, where can we get water and how much will it cost. Users in L.A. Department of Water and Power (DWP) showed that they could conserve water by 20+% in a matter of a few months, but everyone says we can't solve all the water problems by conservation, only, and I agree.

An obvious source? Local sources--recycled, or reclaimed--including treated wastewater already pumped into the L.A. region? Many think that collecting secondarily treated wastewater to Hyperion rather than discharging to the ocean is not good stewardship of our wonderful California resources. I agree, but what will we do? Many other people have expressed disgust, a.k.a. The Yuck Factor, at the very idea of Toilet-to-Tap (T2T, but it is actually Toilet to Treatment to Tap, T2T2T, but short form Reclaimed2T), while Orange and Monterey Counties have been 30+years leaders in recycling of reclaimed water in California (R2Ground2Tap or R2Irrigation2Table, R2I2T). Other cities have gone the R2T route either directly or indirectly.

For over 40 years, Orange County 'Water Factory 21' first put the water in groundwater barriers, where 50% went to the sea and 50% went to the wells feeding into the potable water supply (R2G2T). Second, for almost 40 years, the Monterey Bay Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant produced safe reclaimed water for irrigating directly eatable crops (R2I2T). Both projects had/ have strict biological monitoring, and we at MBRWTP did viral monitoring for over one year and found none…40 years ago. The bottom line is that many others HAVE TO use water they can get; others don't have our California luxuries and financial resources to transport water 100's of miles and a very strict Department of Public Health which basically has restricted any reclaimed use to groundwater recharge and remote irrigation without any demonstrated public health effects and with demonstrated safe uses for more than 20 years at many faclities.

For Los Angeles, we can further reduce irrigation through conservation and protect the Delta. Looking at L.A.'s flows, I noticed that the total sewage for Department of Public Works (DPW) was only about 70% of DWP water supply; the remainder goes to ground leakage and for irrigation. usual sewage return would be 90% from water supply. This is why it was so easy to reduce water by 20+% in 90 days; we are still further reducing through conservation.

All reclaimed and stormwater waters can be recharged in the San Fernando Valley, and recovery/reuse of R2G2T is the easiest and cheapest water we can get for potable uses, but this is not enough. We don't have the land left and underground reservoirs for effective recharge and recovery, Therefore although both stormwater and reclaimed water can be recharged and used in the Valley, We need to begin the cycling of treater wastewater back to the potable supply system as many others have already proven can be done. We need to: 'Think Globally, Act Locally' and for us in L.A., and we can apply it here. Think Globally for our local L.A. City and support/achieve a 'Blue L.A.' by 2020 with:

All San Fernando Valley reclaimed water/ stormwater flows for recharge, groundwater wells and reuse,

South of Chavez/Sunset - 100% of new developments with 100% stormwater recharge caissons/wells

40+% of Hyperion sewage flows for potable treatment and reuse south of the Glendale Freeway.