Talking Under Water: What California’s new direct potable reuse regulations mean

March 1, 2024
In this episode, representatives of WaterReuse California discuss what direct potable reuse is and how and why California's new regulation was developed.

On December 19, 2023, the state of California passed new regulations for direct potable reuse. In this episode of Talking Under Water, Co-host Mandy Crispin, editor-in-chief of WaterWorld, talks with David Pedersen, the president of WaterReuse California, and Rosario Cortes, WaterReuse California’s regulatory affairs director about what direct potable reuse is and how and why the regulation was developed.

Show Notes:   

Timestamps:   

  • Introduction and episode summary | 0:00
  • What is direct potable reuse? | 1:09
  • Comparing different water supply strategies' speed | 2:55
  • How direct potable reuse rules were developed in California | 3:29
  • Why set rules at the state level instead of locally? | 5:20
  • Why is DPR important at this moment in time? | 8:14
  • We are all downstream of someone | 9:56
  • Why the timeline to make a rule has been so lengthy | 10:47
  • How much will DPR methods cost communities and utilities? | 12:39
  • Using a value rather than costs mindset | 15:09
  • Public trust and confidence are a high priority | 16:02
  • The criticality of collaboration and communication | 18:36
  • Housekeeping | 20:17

Resources: 

About the Podcast   

Talking Under Water is the premier podcast for the water industry, including municipal and industrial water and wastewater, residential water treatment, storm water management and erosion control. It is produced in coordination between Wastewater Digest (WWD), WaterWorld and Storm Water Solutions (SWS). The podcast covers topics under the One Water movement including the municipal and industrial water and wastewater, point of use, point of entry, residential, storm water and erosion control markets. Talking Under Water highlights news, trends, new technologies, industry discussions and on-site interviews with experts for WWD, WQP and SWS. New episodes of the podcast are released on the third Friday of every month. Logo Images: Anatoly Tiplyashin / Romolo Tavani / stock.adobe.com.   

Contact the Talking Under Water podcast editors by emailing [email protected]  engaging with them on Twitter @TUWpodcast. Join the conversation by commenting or using the hashtag #talkingunderwaterpod on social media.  

 

About the Author

Mandy Crispin

Mandy Crispin is the editor-in-chief of WaterWorld, having joined Endeavor Business Media in 2023. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and is a graduate of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has internal and external corporate communications experience in disparate industries including online retail, gaming, plastics and is now enjoying exploring the water utility space. Crispin can be reach at [email protected].