Recycling more water would help repair the misfortunes of Colorado River, says the report

California does not recycle enough water, according to a new report by UCLA researchers, who say that the state should treat and reuse more wastewater to help respond to chronic shortages of Colorado River.

Analyzing the data from large wastewater processing factories in seven states that are based on the colorado river water, the researchers found that California only recycles 22% of its treated wastewater. It is far behind the two driest states of the country: Nevada, which recycles 85% of its wastewater, and Arizona, which reuses 52%.

THE reportBased on the data of 2022, found that other states of the Colorado river basin are dragging, new mexical recycling 18%, Colorado 3.6%, Wyoming 3.3%and Utah less than 1%.

Researchers have said that California and other states, with the support of the federal government, should intensify investments in water recycling facilities to help as the region faces considerably reduce the use of water To prevent the river tanks from falling to severely low levels. They said that the southwest needed to prioritize water recycling to adapt in the form of drought become more intense and lasting with global warming.

“We are faced with a warmer and drier future and we must continue to recycle water in a aggressively if we want to ensure a sustainable and resilient water supply,” said Noah Garrison, water researcher at the Environment Institute and UCLA sustainability.

“There is a huge opportunity here,” said Garrison. “We must create these new and reliable and reliable sources of water.”

The study shows that in the seven states, on average 26% of municipal wastewater is recycled.

If California and other states pursued recycling targets of 40% or 50% of their wastewater, the researchers said, this would greatly contribute to filling the gap of the river between supply and demand. If each state even reached 30%, they calculated, it would generate more than 450,000 acres of foot per year – almost as much as the total annual use of Los Angeles.

“These modest water gains could make a huge difference on Colorado,” said co-author Mark Gold, assistant assistant professor of the UCLA and director of water shortage at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The greatest potential lies in California, which uses more water from the Colorado river than any other state. Water flows into aqueducts and canals to Desert agricultural land And from the cities of Palm Springs in San Diego.

Some of the urban wastewater in southern California are Treaty and reused To irrigate terrain and golf parks, while Orange County has a system that Purify wastewater And put it in the groundwater basin for use as a drinking water.

Other treated effluents is discharged in rivers or ocean.

The researchers compiled state data for the seven states of the Colorado river basin, including the areas based on the river as well as in other areas that do not.

In southern Southern California, from the county of Ventura to the County of San Diego, 29% of wastewater is currently recycled, the researchers said. According to state data, the construction of three major planned water recycling projects would allow the region to reuse more than 56%.

Once completely built, these three installations, planned by San Diego,, Los Angeles and the Metropolitan South Water District of Californiawould considerably increase the local water supply. The total cost for the three projects and new water distribution systems could exceed $ 25 billion, according to the report.

Although the costs are substantial, the construction of these projects must be considered vital infrastructure improvements, said Gold.

“We clearly do not manage water in a sustainable way, and recycled water is so critical that a way to do so,” said Gold.

The researchers said that significant and federal investments will be necessary for the work and that it should be undertaken urgently.

The Colorado River provides water to the cities of Denver in Los Angeles, 30 native tribes and agricultural communities of the rocky mountains in the north of Mexico.

The river has long been overused and its tanks have decreased considerably in persistent dry conditions since 2000. The average flow of the river has decreased by around 20% since 2000, and scientists estimated that about half of this decline was caused by global warming Directed by the fire of fossil fuels.

The drop in flow should aggravate as temperatures increase.

“We cannot afford not to move forward with water recycling due to the importance of reliability and climate resilience,” said Gold.

The average difference of the river between supply and demand has been estimated between 2 million acres and 4 million acres per year, Gold said. Much of this could be offset by recycling more water.

“But that cannot happen without significant federal and state investments,” said Gold.

Researchers have called for the Federal Environmental Protection Agency to develop water reuse objectives and governments of states to engage in objectives – such as 30%, 40% or 50% – and work with other agencies to guarantee funding. They also said that states had to collect better data on water recycling.

Several states did not have this basic information, and the researchers had to call the processing factories one by one to know how much water is processed and reused.

“The lack of adequate data is an important barrier,” said Garrison. “The fact that most states have little idea what’s going on is a real and growing problem.”

Researchers said California had the country Most complete regulation On recycled water and also leads to other states in the monitoring of data on reuse. They declared that the state had adopted ambitious water recycling objectives in 2009, but these objectives were actually abandoned under a State strategy adopted in 2022.

“The real problem is that in 15 years, we have made almost no progress,” said Garrison. “It is really time for California to start investing much more strongly in this solution, in particular given the uncertainty around the water in the Colorado river basin.”

In recent years, State Water Resources Control Board has provided $ 1.4 billion for projects that will produce 125,000 acres acres each year, said E. Joaquin Esquivel, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“The increase in the use of recycled water is an absolute priority for the state and a key element of the Newsom government strategy to buffer the planned loss of 10% of our water supplies by 2040 due to warmer and drier conditions,” said Esquivel in an email.

He said that although there have been enormous progress on the part of state and southern California agencies in recent years, “investment and continuous planning are essential to take advantage of the full potential of recycled water and simultaneously reduce dependence on the Colorado river.”