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As the Colorado River Shrinks, Southern California Is Embracing Water Recycling
During the hottest days of the year, sun glimmers off of an aqueduct as it moves water from the shrinking Colorado River to millions of residents in the sprawling cities of Southern California. In one of the nation’s most populous regions, many cities import a large portion of their drinking water from faraway rivers through this aqueduct and a network of dams and diversions.
But climate change means a lot less could be available going forward. Over the past two decades, the worst drought in 1,200 years has driven the Colorado River into extreme shortages, forcing officials across the American Southwest to confront hard realities and make tough calls about the future.
The cliffs surrounding Lake Mead — the largest in the United States — are lined by a “bathtub ring” of mineral deposits left behind as the lake has dropped to record low levels. Credit: Tom Yulsman / The Water Desk
This has meant some cities are having to look for new sources of water more isolated from weather swings. And cities dependent on the Colorado River are eyeing water that’s dumped down the drain.
“We really kind of refer to this as our third aqueduct,” says John Bednarski, an interim assistant general manager at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — a powerful agency, as the largest wholesale provider of water in the nation and owner of the Colorado River Aqueduct.
The “third aqueduct” Bednarski is referring to is not another man-made appendage stretching to the Colorado River Basin or into Northern California but rather a project that’s designed to stay local — and sustainable: Pure Water Southern California would recycle wastewater, treat it and produce 150 million gallons of water each day, accounting for about 10 percent of the agency’s local water demands, according to Bednarski. “So it’s going to be a major contributor,” he says.
The post As the Colorado River Shrinks, Southern California Is Embracing Water Recycling appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
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