On December 19th, the State Water Board made California history by granting approval for direct potable reuse regulations, also known as DPR. California’s water and wastewater associations are joining forces to celebrate this momentous achievement. United in the spirit of ‘One Water’ we are proudly working together to build California’s utilities of the future. Following...

Los Angeles water agencies dream big. That’s because local leaders are proactively leading the way here and across the country to provide equitable access to water, build resiliency, and address water supply amid climate change challenges, such as extreme weather, drought, and sea-level rise with water reuse innovation. Case in point: Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) regulations are progressing at the State...

This post was provided by WateReuse California… This week the California State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) released an advanced copy of the highly anticipated Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) regulations. The 45-day comment period and Administrative Procedures Act will formally begin on July 21. The Water Board is planning to conduct a workshop on...

As California has struggled with drought, Governor Gavin Newsom’s fundamental solution: find more water by diversifying the state’s public water supply. Because of the proximity of the Pacific Ocean, one of the most frequently mentioned sources is seawater desalination. A few communities are trying it, despite environmental concerns. But another potential source gets less public...

On June 1st, the East County Advanced Water Purification Program broke ground, marking an important milestone for the project, East San Diego County, the region and the entire water industry.Program representatives, elected officials and water industry leaders gathered at the future site of the treatment facility in Santee to celebrate the Program that will create a new, local, sustainable and...

Be part of the inaugural 2024 Enhanced Source Control Workshop on February 6 at the Delta Hotels in Anaheim. Learn more > What’s driving the need for enhanced source control research and regulations? AB 574 requires the State Water Board to develop draft direct potable reuse (DPR) regulations by December 31, 2023. An expert panel...

On June 24th, WateReuse California submitted comments on the Water Board’s draft Direct Potable Reuse regulations. The coalition letter included ACWA, CUWA, CA-NV Section of AWWA and CASA. WRCA developed these comments after holding a webcast and panel discussion in April to review the draft regulations and solicit comments. A DPR Working Group was formed that assisted...

Announcement from the State Water Board… NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the State Water Board will accept public comment on the Addendum to A Proposed Framework for Regulating Direct Potable Reuse in California, 2nd Edition (Framework). The State Water Board will provide an opportunity for the public to present oral comments at a public workshop....

California is far from the only region in the world moving toward direct potable reuse (DPR). Windhoak, Namibia, with a population of more than 350,000, is the first and longest running DPR plant in the world. Windhoak has been using DPR for drinking water purposes for more than 50 years. The Goreangab Reclamation Plant currently...

Converting Waste to Resource The Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant (HWRP), located in Playa Del Rey, CA, is one of the largest reclamation plants in the nation, treating an average of 260 million gallons per day (MGD) to full secondary standards. HWRP currently treats 82 percent of Los Angeles’ wastewater and discharges most of its effluent...

This article is part of our water reuse coverage, supported by Hazen & Sawyer > The California state Water Board is beginning the development of Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) statewide regulations by assembling an Expert Panel as required by AB 574 (Quirk-2017). This panel is expected to assist the Water Board’s Division of Drinking Water...

Great news – on December 19th, State Water Board approved the DPR regulations. California water associations applaud new rules with a unified, one voice > We are living in a hotter, drier California. 2020 is on track to be one of the hottest on record. Seven of the ten most destructive wildfires in California’s history have burned in the last five years.  And, California has only recently...

Today, at an event at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington, D.C., EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary David Bernhard joined federal, state, tribal, local and water sector partners to announce the National Water Reuse Action Plan: Collaborative Implementation (Version 1). The actions that EPA and its...

The purpose of this standard is to define the critical requirements for the effective operation and management of a DPR water program. ISBN: 9781613004739 Publisher: AWWA Publication date: 2018 AWWA catalog no: STG_0086771 Media Type: PDF Number of pages: 14 DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12999/AWWA.G485.18 Agency reviewers include: J.D. Brown, Contra Costa Water District, Concord, Calif. S. Deshmukh, West Basin Municipal Water District, Carson, Calif....

The California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association (CA-NV AWWA) and California Water Environment Association (CWEA) have signed a memorandum of agreement to jointly develop the Advanced Water Treatment Operator (AWTO) Certification program. The certification exams are expected to be ready in the Spring of 2019. The certification will be open to all California...

Can 1+1=3, or maybe even more?  That is the question Stanford and Silicon Valley Clean Water (SVCW) hope to answer with two pilot plants using an innovative anaerobic secondary treatment process. The ‘SAF-MBR’ project, which stands for Staged Anaerobic Fluidized-bed Membrane Bioreactor, has two main components – the membrane system and the fluidized-bed. Both are...

This post originally appeared on UC Berkeley’s Legal Planet blog. Of Dreamliners and Drinking Water By Michael Kiparsky and Christian Binz As we have written previously, potable water reuse (recycling water to augment water supplies) is a promising way to diversify urban water supply portfolios. Direct potable water reuse (DPR), the injection of highly purified...

An Interview with Garry Brown,  DPR Advisory Group Chair The State’s recent steps toward direct potable reuse (DPR) might seem like an out of the blue solution to many people. Not to Garry Brown, the Executive Director of OC Coastkeeper. A long-time veteran of Southern California’s battles over water and water quality, Garry has watched...

During the Legislature’s 2017 session several new California laws were passed that will impact water systems. The Governor has now signed each into law. AB 967  Biocreamation Facilities Bill – this law becomes effective January 1, 2018. Wastewater districts will have the legal authority to accept or reject liquid cremation of human remains from licensed...

Below is the joint comment letter CWEA and CA NV AWWA have submitted focused on the operator certification piece of the DPR Report to the Legislature on the Feasibility of Developing Uniform Water Recycling Criteria for Direct Potable Reuse. Dear State Water Resources Control Board: Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the State Water...