From the desert to the sea, California cities are tackling the problem of limited water supply with recycling and reuse solutions.

In San Diego County, the City of Oceanside will break ground this Fall on a new facility that will “purify recycled water to create a new, local source of high-quality drinking water that is clean, safe, drought-proof, and environmentally sound,” according to the City’s website. The facility, which will sit next to the San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility, will use “state-of-the-art water purification steps that replicate and accelerate nature’s natural recycling processes” to generate between 3 and 5 million gallons of water per day, according to ABC 10 News. The City believes this move will be monumental in helping Oceanside control its own water destiny.

With similar intentions to control its own destiny, the mountainous City of Tehachapi in Kern County is investigating a groundwater reuse project that would use treated effluent water to increase potable water availability, according Tehachapi News. Capturing the treated effluent water coming from the wastewater treatment plant and putting it back into the aquifer would allow Tehachapi to be self-sufficient, according to City Manager Greg Garrett. The project, which has yet to be presented to the City Council and is estimated to cost more than $10 Million, would require the installation of pipes in order to pump the water uphill to Blackburn Dam, near Tehachapi Mountain Valley Airport.  

Both of these projects exemplify the important work California cities are doing to implement sustainable solutions that mitigate our state’s water woes and serve the needs of our communities.