Amidst Drought, Californians Fight Over Sewage

Fighting over water is nothing new in California but the latest battle has taken on a fun twist - water agencies are clamoring for their share of...you guessed it...sewer water.

Sanitation Districts of LA County has promised to deliver 45,000 acre-feet of recycled water to agencies but some think there will be less available and are worried about not getting their allotment.

Much of the recycled sewer water is promised to a $210 million project - known as the Groundwater Reliability Improvement Program (GRIP) that recycles the water to drinking standards. The project is a partnership between a number of California water agencies but not the Central Basin Water District - and that has sent them into a lobbying frenzy.

The GRIP project will be one of the biggest users of recycled water, taking about half of the remaining waste-water from sanitation districts. It would purify water through reverse osmosis and then use it to replenish dwindling groundwater supplies. Some believe this method of using the water could directly offset half of California's demand for imported water. But Central Basin says GRIP is asking for to much sewer water and that they had first dibs. Oi...

Photo: Wastewater treatment plant, Richmond, California on Flickr under Creative Commons License