San Diego Council OKs $1M Study on Expanding Recycled Water Use

With a 7-2 vote yesterday, the San Diego City Council authorized the city to spend nearly $1 million on a study assessing the feasibility of significantly increasing the use of recycled water.

The one-year study will look at possibilities such as expanding the water distribution system, augmenting current reservoirs, and building a water reclamation plant near Balboa Park.

The city currently runs two water reclamation facilities, which recycle water for use in irrigation.

However, those plants recycle only about 3 percent of the city's wastewater, according to Robert Simmons – a San Carlos, Calif., resident who represented key environmental organizations in presenting comments to the council.

A 1989 ordinance calls for a master plan on recycled water to be updated every five years.

Water demand by San Diego residents is expected to increase by 25 percent by 2030.

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune