Senate should OK projects to recycle water
Now that the House has passed Congressman David Dreier's water recycling bill, we look to the U.S. Senate to help make two important local projects a reality.
It's not a given. Dreier's bill to authorize federal participation in two Inland Valley initiatives passed the House in July, but failed to make it through the Senate. So Dreier, R-Glendora, reintroduced the resolution on the first day of the current congressional session, with cosponsorship by local Reps. Joe Baca, D-San Bernardino; Ken Calvert, R-Riverside; Gary Miller, R-Brea, and Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, chairwoman of the House subcommittee on water and power.
The bill authorizes the Interior Department to contribute up to 25 percent of the design, planning and construction costs of recycling projects by the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and the Cucamonga Valley Water District. Up to $20 million would go to the IEUA project and up to $10 million to the Cucamonga Valley project, which together would reclaim 100,000 acre feet of water annually.
Recycled water is not added to the drinking supply, but is used for landscape and agricultural irrigation, construction and industrial cooling. But every gallon of water that is recycled means a gallon of drinking water does not have to be used for those purposes, so in effect the projects will mean a big increase in the Inland Valley's overall water supply - drinking and otherwise. These two projects are expected to meet the needs of 300,000 residents upon completion.
There's nothing more important to Southern California than securing and increasing our water supply. As our population continues to grow and as other fast-developing Western states draw a larger share of Colorado River water, conservation, groundwater reclamation and recycling will play an ever larger part.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has already recognized the Inland Empire Water Recycling Initiative as one of the most cost-effective projects around.
Now, we need Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to push this bill through the Senate.
