Water recycled from toilets and showers could soon be flowing from taps in California, where years of drought have forced authorities to look at a wider array of options for residents’ water supply.
The State Water Resources Control Board voted Tuesday in favor of letting water companies pump recycled, treated wastewater into the state’s drinking water system, potentially adding “millions of gallons of additional drinking water to their supplies over time while avoiding costlier and more energy intensive water supplies,” the board said in a press release.
The new regulations won’t be finalized until they’re also approved by the state’s Office of Administrative Law next year.
Up until now, water companies have had to dump wastewater into the ocean or send it to farmland. But finding new sources of potable water is a necessity in California, where drought linked to rising global temperatures remains a major threat.
“This is an exciting development in the state’s ongoing efforts to find innovative solutions to the challenges of extreme weather driven by climate change,” E. Joaquin Esquivel, the water board’s chair, said in the press release, adding that “most importantly, these regulations ensure that the water produced is not only safe, but purer than many drinking water sources we now rely on.”
Very little of California is experiencing any level of drought right now, but as recently as one year ago, the U.S. Drought Monitor categorized the vast majority (around 80%) of the state as having severe drought or worse. That was the end of a two-year dry spell in the state, and groundwater resources are still recovering.
California must plan under the assumption that future drought is inevitable, according to a state water supply strategy laid out last year.
“Our warming climate means that a greater share of the rain and snowfall we receive will be absorbed by dry soils, consumed by thirsty plans, and evaporated into the air,” the strategy document says. “This leaves less water to meet our needs.”
The water board said that the regulations it approved Tuesday were developed with a panel of 12 scientists, and comply with the state’s Safe Drinking Water Act.
California follows in the footsteps of Colorado, which approved similar regulations last year.