Water containing wastes – aka wastewater – from residential,
commercial and industrial processes requires treatment to remove
pollutants prior to discharge. After treatment, the water is
suitable for nonconsumption (nonpotable) and even potable use.
In California, water recycling is a critical component of the
state’s efforts to use water supplies more efficiently. The state
presently recycling about 669,000 acre-feet of water per year and
has the potential to reuse an additional two million acre-feet
per year.
Non-potable uses include:
landscape and crop irrigation
stream and wetlands enhancement
industrial processes
recreational lakes, fountains and decorative ponds
toilet flushing and gray water applications
as a barrier to protect groundwater supplies
from seawater intrusion
wetland habitat creation, restoration, and maintenance
Bay Area cities and counties will soon have to make major
upgrades to their aging wastewater facilities to comply with
new regulations that aim to protect the San Francisco Bay from
harmful algal blooms. The upgrades are estimated to cost $11
billion across the region — an average increase for
ratepayers of $200 per year per household. The new
regulations are expected to be finalized at Wednesday’s meeting
of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.
… The need for the upgrades became clear, regulators say,
after major algal blooms in the bay over the past two summers
turned the water rust red and killed tens of thousands of fish.
Nutrients found in wastewater — especially nitrogen which
comes from human urine and other types of waste — are
major contributors to algal blooms. And algal blooms are more
likely to happen as water temperatures and other conditions
change in the bay with global warming.
The Tuolumne Utilities District held a ceremonial ribbon
cutting marking the completion of the successful
overhaul/replacement of the Sonora Regional Wastewater
Treatment facility. The project commenced in October of 2021
and the updated operation, on the outskirts of Sonora, now has
the ability to treat an average of two million gallons of
wastewater per day. The $42-million project replaces an
outdated plant built in the 1970s. The project site was
strategically contained within the footprint of the existing
treatment plant on Southgate Drive.
EPA Clean Water Act (CWA) wastewater regulations are set to
face U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) scrutiny. In the case City and
County of San Francisco v. EPA, San Francisco is suing the EPA
over generic water quality prohibitions in permitting
decisions. “The EPA had urged the Supreme Court to decline the
petition, insisting narrative limitations were within its
right,” according to Newsweek. On May 28, 2024, SCOTUS agreed
to hear the case.
With the Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade
(RESCU) Program’s ribbon cutting, Silicon Valley Clean
Water (SVCW) is delivering on its commitment to protecting
public health and the environment for generations to come. An
early adopter of progressive design-build (PDB), SVCW
recently celebrated the successful use of this collaborative
project delivery approach for the on-time and on-budget program
with a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on May 13. The
RESCU Program is one of the largest wastewater PDB programs on
the West Coast and has served as a model for other agencies,
both locally and nationally.
… Under a blazing Palmdale sun recently, state and local
officials gathered to break ground on one such project, a
first-of-its-kind wastewater treatment facility that also
removes CO₂ from the atmosphere. Project Monarch, a
public-private partnership between the Palmdale Water District
and the climate technology company Capture6, will not only
provide residents with new water supplies, but will also help
California achieve its goals of 100% renewable energy and
carbon neutrality by 2045, according to Nancy Vogel, deputy
secretary for water at the California Natural Resources Agency.
To keep pace with a growing demand for water, there is now a
pressing need for water recycling facilities that can remove
pollutants from wastewater. Recently, many synthetic materials
have emerged which can absorb pollutants very efficiently.
However, their high costs place them out of reach for many
developing nations. In research published in Applied Surface
Science Advances, O P Pandey and colleagues at Thapar Institute
of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India, present an
in-depth analysis of how natural biosorbents could provide an
affordable alternative for treating wastewater. With the right
approach, the team shows that these eco-friendly materials
could be produced from agricultural waste, making them far more
accessible in developing countries. … Pandey’s team hope
their findings … could pave the way for new approaches to
treating agricultural waste products for use as biosorbents for
wastewater treatment. Through this, they could one day help
millions of people in the developing world to gain easier, more
affordable access to clean water.
By any objective standard, the southern coast of San Diego
County is enduring a long-running environmental nightmare.
Decades of billions of gallons of untreated human waste flowing
north from broken sewage infrastructure in Tijuana have
sickened a vast number of surfers and swimmers and many Navy
SEALs training at Coronado. Especially because of ailments
reported by border agents, some doctors worry that the health
threat goes far beyond active ocean users to include those who
spend extended time in coastal areas and breathe air that often
smells like a filthy portable toilet. Now there is fresh
confirmation of how uniquely awful this problem is. The
Surfrider Foundation has released a report on 567 sites in
which it tested water for unsafe bacteria levels and found
Imperial Beach — which has been closed for more than two years
— had far and away the dirtiest water in the United
States.
Some $253 million helped Angelenos pay back utility bills from
March 2020 through December 2022, city officials announced on
Wednesday, June 12. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember
Heather Hutt, state Environmental Protection Agency Secretary
Yana Garcia, Water Resources Control Board Chair Joaquin
Esquivel, and officials with the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power and L.A. Environment and Sanitation celebrated
the distribution of federal funding at a news conference.
Officials said the aid was automatically applied to about
204,500 DWP customer accounts. The California Water and
Wastewater Arrearage Payment Program was the source of the
funds, administered by the state water board using federal
American Rescue Plan Act funds.
As climate change unleashes ever-more powerful storms,
worsening floods and rising sea levels, San Francisco remains
woefully unprepared for inundation, a civil grand jury
determined in a report this week. The critical assessment —
written by 19 San Franciscans selected by the Superior Court —
found that the city and county lacked a comprehensive funding
plan for climate adaptation and that existing sewer systems
cannot handle worsening floods. Among other concerns, the
report also concluded that efforts toward making improvements
have been hampered by agency silos and a lack of transparency.
Members of the volunteer jury serve yearlong terms and are
tasked with investigating city and county government by
reviewing documents and interviewing public officials, experts
and private individuals.
California is home to three of the most bacteria-ridden beaches
in the country, according to the Surfrider Foundation. The
nonprofit organization recently released its 2023 Clean Water
Report to “build awareness of issues that affect water quality
at the beach.” The report … highlights 10 beaches across the
United States and Puerto Rico where high bacteria levels
consistently exceed state health standards, putting public
health at risk. … [The nonprofit said in the report],
“Surfrider Foundation volunteers test beaches that are not
covered by agencies, and also monitor potential sources of
pollution, such as stormwater outlets, rivers and creeks that
discharge onto the beach.”
Today, it’s common to see farms covered in plastic. It lines
the sides of greenhouses, blankets fields as “plastic mulch,”
covers hoop houses, and winds through farms as irrigation
tubes, among other forms. In satellite images, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has observed the
typically golden and green agricultural fields turned white, as
though dusted in snow, from all of the plastic. Agriculture is
responsible for 3.5 percent of global plastic production, a
figure that may seem small until you consider the sheer volume
of plastics produced: around 400 million metric tons per year.
… Microplastics pervade every part of the Earth, from
the bottom of the ocean floor to all forms of drinking water to
the human placenta.
Famous for its lush vineyards and cherished local wineries,
Napa Valley is where people go to escape their problems. …
What the more than 3 million annual tourists don’t see,
however, is that California’s wine country has a brewing
problem – one that has spurred multiple ongoing government
investigations and created deep divisions. Some residents and
business owners fear it poses a risk to the region’s reputation
and environment. At the heart of the fear is the decades-old
Clover Flat Landfill (CFL), perched on the northern edge of the
valley atop the edge of a rugged mountain range. Two streams
run adjacent to the landfill as tributaries to the Napa
River.
From brown trout becoming “addicted” to methamphetamine to
European perch losing their fear of predators due to depression
medication, scientists warn that modern pharmaceutical and
illegal drug pollution is becoming a growing threat to
wildlife. Drug exposure is causing significant, unexpected
changes to some animals’ behaviour and anatomy. Scientists have
said that modern pharmaceutical waste is having significant
consequences for wildlife exposed to discharges in their
ecosystems, and warned it could have unintended consequences
for humans.
Yesterday, Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego) introduced
Senate Joint Resolution 18, which urges the Center for Disease
Control to conduct an investigation into the health impacts
surrounding the ongoing pollution crisis in the Tijuana River.
For decades, the Tijuana River has been contaminated with
billions of gallons of trash, sediment, and wastewater as a
result of sewage infrastructure inadequacies has created
recurring and worsening pollution problems for the County of
San Diego and the southern California coastline. Just this past
January, a storm surge caused 14.5 billion gallons of raw
sewage and pollution to wash up on the banks of the River as
well as overflow into the nearby coastal wetlands, one of the
few remaining such ecosystems left in Southern California.
County public health officials say that a two-week
investigation showed “no conclusive evidence” of increased
gastrointestinal illness at a South Bay health clinic that
claimed its patients suffered such symptoms since Tropical
Storm Hilary inundated the heavily polluted Tijuana River in
August 2023. Public statements about a rising trend in
the incidence of gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal
pain, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting spurred the county to
dispatch experts to South Bay Urgent Care from Feb. 5 to Feb.
18 during a period when several inches of rain fell across the
region. A close review of patient charts during that
fortnight, said Dr. Mark Beatty, an assistant medical director
in the county’s epidemiology and immunization department, did
find incidences of gastrointestinal illness, but at rates no
greater than were observed at other medical providers in the
area.
The nation’s high court has agreed to hear a water quality case
next year that will examine U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency authority to impose new wastewater discharge
requirements on utilities that are based on conditions without
specific numeric limits. San Francisco wants the U.S.
Supreme Court to review a July 2023 opinion by judges from the
federal appeals court in San Francisco that affirmed agency
authority to include broad language prohibiting the pollution
and placing conditions on the city’s National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. Those conditions
included requiring the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission to update its long-term control plan for managing
combined-sewer overflows.
… the fields that grow our food are filthy with plastic
waste — the direct result of modern farming’s increasing
reliance on the signature material of the Anthropocene. Whether
incidentally littered onsite or directly diffused into the soil
via polymer-coated chemical pellets, plastic is now embedded
both in agricultural practices and the tilled earth itself. It
leaks into waterways, might be poisoning our food, and is
virtually unregulated. Nobody knows what to do about
it. “Now we have it, and it’s the devil … it’s a global
menace,” says Tom Willey, a retired certified organic farmer in
the San Joaquin Valley who reluctantly used plastic sheet
“mulch” for about 20 years ago on his farm near Madera.
… From Modesto to Manteca, from Davis to Petaluma, and
throughout the Delta and North Bay regions, plastic sheeting
for hoop-style greenhouses and groundcovers are seen in fields
beside public roads and waterways, sometimes strewn in
windblown rags and tatters, waiting for disposal.
Momentum is building for a unique
interstate deal that aims to transform wastewater from Southern
California homes and business into relief for the stressed
Colorado River. The collaborative effort to add resiliency to a
river suffering from overuse, drought and climate change is being
shaped across state lines by some of the West’s largest water
agencies.
Martha Guzman recalls those awful
days working on water and other issues as a deputy legislative
secretary for then-Gov. Jerry Brown. California was mired in a
recession and the state’s finances were deep in the red. Parks
were cut, schools were cut, programs were cut to try to balance a
troubled state budget in what she remembers as “that terrible
time.”
She now finds herself in a strikingly different position: As
administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
Region 9, she has a mandate to address water challenges across
California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii and $1 billion to help pay
for it. It is the kind of funding, she said, that is usually
spread out over a decade. Guzman called it the “absolutely
greatest opportunity.”
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.
Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.
Blasted by sun and beaten by waves,
plastic bottles and bags shed fibers and tiny flecks of
microplastic debris that litter the San Francisco Bay where they
can choke the marine life that inadvertently consumes it.
Summer is a good time to take a
break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and
watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting
a chance to do plenty of that this July.
But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss
some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re
taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned
for later this year, we want to help you catch up on
Western Water stories from the first half of this year
that you might have missed.
Each day, people living on the streets and camping along waterways across California face the same struggle – finding clean drinking water and a place to wash and go to the bathroom.
Some find friendly businesses willing to help, or public restrooms and drinking water fountains. Yet for many homeless people, accessing the water and sanitation that most people take for granted remains a daily struggle.
Californians have been doing an
exceptional job
reducing their indoor water use, helping the state survive
the most recent drought when water districts were required to
meet conservation targets. With more droughts inevitable,
Californians are likely to face even greater calls to save water
in the future.
For the bulk of her career, Jayne
Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the
management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was
appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the
United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees
myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to
sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado
River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other
rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be
named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and
Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the
commission’s 129-year history.
Although Santa Monica may be the most aggressive Southern California water provider to wean itself from imported supplies, it is hardly the only one looking to remake its water portfolio.
In Los Angeles, a city of about 4 million people, efforts are underway to dramatically slash purchases of imported water while boosting the amount from recycling, stormwater capture, groundwater cleanup and conservation. Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2014 announced a plan to reduce the city’s purchase of imported water from Metropolitan Water District by one-half by 2025 and to provide one-half of the city’s supply from local sources by 2035. (The city considers its Eastern Sierra supplies as imported water.)
Imported water from the Sierra
Nevada and the Colorado River built Southern California. Yet as
drought, climate change and environmental concerns render those
supplies increasingly at risk, the Southland’s cities have ramped
up their efforts to rely more on local sources and less on
imported water.
Far and away the most ambitious goal has been set by the city of
Santa Monica, which in 2014 embarked on a course to be virtually
water independent through local sources by 2023. In the 1990s,
Santa Monica was completely dependent on imported water. Now, it
derives more than 70 percent of its water locally.
In rural areas with widely dispersed houses, reliance upon a
centralized
sewer system is not practical compared to individual
wastewater treatment methods. These on-site management facilities
– or septic systems – are more commonplace given their simpler
structure, efficiency and easy maintenance.
Microplastics – plastic debris
measuring less than 5 millimeters – are an
increasing water quality concern. They enter waterways and
oceans as industrial microbeads from various consumer
products or larger plastic litter that degrades into small bits.
Microbeads have been used in exfoliating agents, cosmetic washes
and large-scale cleaning processes. Microplastics are used
pharmaceutically for efficient drug delivery to affected sites in
patients’ bodies and by textile companies to create artificial
fibers.
Microplastics disperse easily and widely throughout surface waters and sediments. UV
light, microbes and erosion degrade the tiny fragments, making
them even smaller and more difficult for wastewater treatment
plants to remove.
The particles, usually made of polyethylene or polypropylene
plastic, take thousands of years to biodegrade
naturally. It takes prohibitively high temperatures to
break microplastics down fully. Consequently, most water treatment plants cannot remove
them.
The health effects of consumption are currently under
investigation.
Responses
Many advocacy groups have published lists of products containing
microbeads to curb their purchase and pollution.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates microbeads in
industrial, but not domestic, wastewater.
Federal
law required microbeads to be phased out of rinse-off
cosmetics beginning in July 2017. Dozens of states also
regulate microbeads in products. California has the strictest
limitation, prohibiting even the use of biodegradable microbeads.
Microplastics in California Water
In 2019, the San Francisco Estuary Institute published a
study estimating that 7 trillion pieces of microplastic
enter San Francisco
Bay annually from stormwater runoff, about 300
times the amount in all wastewater treatment effluent entering
the bay.
California lawmakers in 2018 passed a package of bills to raise
awareness of the risks of microplastics and microfibers in the
marine environment and drinking water. As
directed by the legislation, the State Water Resources Control
Board in 2020 adopted an official
definition of microplastics in drinking water and in 2022
developed the world’s standardized methods for testing drinking
water for microplastics.
The water board was expected by late 2023 to begin testing
for microplastics in untreated drinking water sources tapped by
30 of the state’s largest water utilities. After two years, the
testing was expected to extend to treated tap water served
to consumers. A progress report and recommendations for
policy changes or additional research are required by the end of
2025.
Directly detecting harmful pathogens in water can be expensive,
unreliable and incredibly complicated. Fortunately, certain
organisms are known to consistently coexist with these harmful
microbes which are substantially easier to detect and culture:
coliform bacteria. These generally non-toxic organisms are
frequently used as “indicator
species,” or organisms whose presence demonstrates a
particular feature of its surrounding environment.
The biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of water determines the
impact of decaying matter on species in a specific ecosystem.
Sampling for BOD tests how much oxygen is needed by bacteria to
break down the organic matter.
Point sources release pollutants from discrete conveyances, such
as a discharge pipe, and are regulated by federal and state
agencies. The main point source dischargers are factories and
sewage treatment plants, which release treated
wastewater.
This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current
state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an
overview of the geography and history of the river, historical
and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of
the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was
agreed to.
This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership
with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an
excellent overview of climate change and how it is already
affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists
anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and
precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are
underway to plan and adapt to climate.
Many Californians don’t realize that when they turn on the
faucet, the water that flows out could come from a source close
to home or one hundreds of miles away. Most people take their
water for granted; not thinking about the elaborate systems and
testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state. Where drinking water comes from,
how it’s treated, and what people can do to protect its quality
are highlighted in this 2007 PBS documentary narrated by actress
Wendie Malick.
A 30-minute version of the 2007 PBS documentary Drinking Water:
Quenching the Public Thirst. This DVD is ideal for showing at
community forums and speaking engagements to help the public
understand the complex issues surrounding the elaborate systems
and testing that go into delivering clean, plentiful water to
households throughout the state.
As the state’s population continues to grow and traditional water
supplies grow tighter, there is increased interest in reusing
treated wastewater for a variety of activities, including
irrigation of crops, parks and golf courses, groundwater recharge
and industrial uses.
The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to California
Wastewater is an in-depth, easy-to-understand publication
that provides background information on the history of wastewater
treatment and how wastewater is collected, conveyed, treated and
disposed of today. The guide also offers case studies of
different treatment plants and their treatment processes.
The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing
uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta,
its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues
with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural
drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.
Wastewater management in California centers on the collection,
conveyance,
treatment, reuse and disposal of wastewater. This process is
conducted largely by public agencies, though there are also
private systems in places where a publicly owned treatment plant
is not feasible.
In California, wastewater treatment takes place through 100,000
miles of sanitary sewer lines and at more than 900 wastewater
treatment plants that manage the roughly 4 billion gallons of
wastewater generated in the state each day.
