Social Droughts and Water Wars: The Never-Ending Californian Saga.

[Arkain2K]

In Shock, Perth Western Australia 1 of the driest city's, we don't catch any water from storm water drains, it runs straight into the ocean

Well, the good news is Perth officials learned all they can about water recycling from our Groundwater Replenishment System in Orange County and brought the technology home to replenish your underground aquifers. It should be operational now, I think.

While our facility's production rate is ramping up to the tune of 100,000,000 gallons per day, which makes it the biggest water recycling system in the world, the pompous bitches in LA insists on calling water recycling "toilet to tap" and steadfastly refuses their city's effort to adopt the technology, even though the recycled water is considered to be ultra-pure, and they would rather continue stealing from other people's lakes and rivers instead.

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Nation’s Largest Water Recycling Plant Expanding in Orange County
By David Gorn December 14, 2016

California’s prolonged and ongoing drought has at least one positive outcome. It has prompted water officials across the state to quickly develop new sources of water — and one of those new sources is flushed water.

The Orange County Water District is leading the nation in wastewater treatment to replenish groundwater supplies — and that project is expanding now, designed to eventually supply water to 2.4 million people, about 40 percent of all water needed in Orange County.

The success in turning used water into drinking water in Orange County is being copied across the state, according to David Sedlak, a professor at UC Berkeley and co-director of the Berkeley Water Center, which monitors the state’s water policy and progress.

“Water agencies in California have been watching Orange County for years now,” Sedlak said.

​

The state has set aside $1 billion for water recycling, including treating wastewater to drinking water standards. The Santa Clara Water Authority and San Jose consulted with Orange County officials, and they’re now leading the way in Northern California. A huge “toilet-to-tap” effort is being planned by the city of Los Angeles, which could eventually top Orange County’s output.

Almost every water district in the state is planning some kind of wastewater-to-drinking-water effort now, Sedlak said, and that kind of rapid progress is unprecedented.

“When you think about the normal glacial pace with which water infrastructure projects usually get built,” he said, “things are moving at a lightning pace in California.”

Nowhere quicker than Orange County, which currently processes 100 million gallons of wastewater a day. When the expansion is completed in 2022, that number is expected to climb to 130 million gallons a day. The district uses reverse osmosis and filtering technology to exceed state standards for drinking water, and then it pumps that water underground to refill its groundwater basin and aquifers.

That additional underground step accomplishes a number of things. By refilling the groundwater basin, there is less danger of the subsidence problem afflicting the Central Valley, where groundwater pumping has caused the land to sink as much as 2 inches a month. Filling the aquifers also keeps saltwater intrusion from the ocean away from freshwater supplies.

And pumping it back underground might filter the water even more, and help keep the famous “ick factor” out of the conversation.

Water flows into Anaheim Lake, where it will be recharged into the Orange County Groundwater Basin.​

In Orange County, all water flushed by residents will eventually become drinking water. And that’s in the cards for much of the rest of California, said UCLA water policy researcher Madelyn Glickfeld.

“It’s going so quickly,” she said. “I think pretty soon all of the water we have in sewer treatment plants is going to be recycled.”

Obviously, water officials have been prodded by the drought, now entering year number six in California. Recent rains have eased some of the problems for northernmost areas, but federal officials (NOAA) estimate 87 percent of the state is still in drought, with over half in severe drought.

The state cut water allocations again this year. This time districts are getting 20 percent of contracted water, which is better than last year’s 10 percent allocation but still much less than most districts need. Glickfeld said districts don’t want to rely on that water.

“At the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, their goal is to stop importing water,” Glickfeld said. “And they think they can.”

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/12/1...r-recycling-plant-expanding-in-orange-county/

 

[Arkain2K]

Orange County teaching Los Angeles that 100%-pure recycled water is 100% drinkable:

From Toilet To Tap: Bottles Of Purified Recycled Wastewater Handed Out In Hollywood
June 21, 2017

​

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — From the toilet to the bottle: The Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District handed out bottles of recycled wastewater Wednesday in Hollywood.

It was the first event in a yearlong statewide tour to educate the public about the technological advancements of treating local wastewater.

OCWD and OCSD are the first in the Western Hemisphere to bottle recycled water and distribute it, the agencies said.

The recycling process is done in Fountain Valley at the Groundwater Replenishment System, which is the world’s largest facility to treat and purify wastewater and transform it into drinking water.

“You’ll see this water tastes no different from any other water but can be a great source of additional water to help get us through our increasing demand for drinking water and through our increasing droughts,” said Mehul Patel, Director of Water Production for the OCWD.

Here’s an interesting fact. The law currently limits using this recycled water to replenish groundwater basins or for irrigation purposes. But a new state law allows water districts to bottle the recycled water on a limited basis and distribute it as an educational tool.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/06/21/purified-recycled-drinking-bottled-water-hollywood/

OC's 'toilet to tap' drinking water a tough sell even on a hot day
Wednesday, June 21, 2017​

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) --"Toilet to tap" is the less-than-appealing nickname given to wastewater that is treated so it can be recycled for human use.

For about a decade now, Orange County has had a plant that purifies wastewater and pumps it back into the groundwater supply.

And as the county expands its operations, it is working to convince the public that the water is indeed clean and safe to drink.

On a scorching first day of summer, the Orange County Water District set up a stand in Hollywood to give away free ice-cold bottled water.

But like most free things, there was a catch. In fact it's fair to say this giveaway was flush with catches.

Anyone drinking it had to get over any mental reservations about where the water had once been.

"It's toilet water!" exclaimed Sir Young Duke, a Hollywood resident. "What do I look like, a dog or something? I'm not drinking no toilet water!"

Some out-of-state visitors, however, had no problem with it. In fact, it was seen as just another weird California thing.

"I just got an extra bottle to take home because we're from Georgia and we don't do things like this in Georgia," said Sandy Smith, visiting from the Peach State. "This is absolutely a California thing."

Mehul Patel with the OCWD acknowledged the agency has to get over the stigma of the project's unfortunate nickname.

"The catchy headline is usually toilet to tap and yeah it does get your attention," Patel said.

But OCWD officials insist the water goes through a very strict, effective purification process.

"We put it in the groundwater aquifer, it mixes with other native groundwater and then is pumped up as drinking water," Patel said.

The water district has no plans to actually bottle the water. It set up the stand to try to get people to accept the idea of recycled wastewater, so it could eventually pump it directly into the water system.

The agency also plans to take its public-image effort throughout the state.

http://abc7.com/news/ocs-toilet-to-tap-water-project-a-tough-sell/2129378/

 

[Arkain2K]

Historic Photos: How Water Flows From the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles
By Jonathan Lloyd | Wednesday, Jun 7, 2017​

Water flowing from the Sierra Nevada Mountains this spring is the welcomed result of a winter of historic snowfall that helped California recover from one of its worst dry spells on record. In fact, it could be one of the largest water runoffs ever. Some of that melting water will flow down the mountains and, eventually, into the California Aqueduct, a sprawling system of canals, tunnels and other waterways before it's used for drinking and irrigation. But decades before that engineering feat began collecting water from the state's giant natural reservoir in the mountains, there was the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Completed in 1913, it's difficult to overstate the water lifeline's importance and its impact on Los Angeles.

Construction began in 1908 and, much like the city to which it provides water, the Aqueduct does things a little differently. Unlike the State Water Project system, which collects water from the western side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the LA Aqueduct brings water to LA from the eastern side of the 400-mile long mountain range. Relying on gravity instead of pumping stations, the aqueduct spans more than 230 miles from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles.

The ambitious project was water superintendent William Mulholland's response to what he saw as a water supply that was woefully inadequate to support more people and industry in Los Angeles. Until the Aqueduct, LA depended on its then-wild river for water. Mulholland, convinced snowmelt from the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains was the answer, presented his plan and voters approved $23 million in construction bonds in 1907.

A dispute over water rights and the land needed for water diversion eventually reached the desk of President Theodore Roosevelt, who cited "the greatest good for the greatest number" in allowing LA's plan to move ahead.

Below, these historic photos show how the Los Angeles Aqueduct was constructed.

 

[Arkain2K]

The search for a water supply that would meet the demands of a Los Angeles on the verge of a population boom led then-water superintendent William Mulholland hundreds of miles beyond the city to the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Snowmelt from the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains flowed into streams that emptied into the dry Owens Valley plain, where it was blocked by a section of lava flow. The challenge for Mulholland, as it is for many designing infrastructure in California, was one of topography.
​

Mulholland's answer was an aqueduct that brought water from the Owens Valley and through the mountains north of Los Angeles to its thirsty residents. He had predicted LA's population would be almost 260,000 on the day the aqueduct began operation. It actually reached 485,000 by the time water began flowing in 1913.

Diversion gates, seen here in the shadow of snow-blanketed mountains, channel the Owens River into the aqueduct canal for its journey south to Los Angeles.

Water flows through the LA Aqueduct intake.
​

 

[Arkain2K]

The LA Aqueduct was completed after five years of construction in 1913. Here, workers are seen constructing a canal. More than 1 million barrels of cement were used to churn out 1.5 million cubic yards of concrete for aqueduct construction.

The northern part of the aqueduct had about 60 miles of open canals, some of which were lined.

Lined channels made up about 37 miles of the 223-mile long Los Angeles Aqueduct, most of which was concrete conduit

One of the most significant features of the aqueduct is known as the Jawbone Siphon. It's an example of the riveted steel pipelines that cross deep and wide canyons along the aqueduct route. Considered one of the most challenging projects, the pressure siphon piping is made up of different diameters to help move water across vast stretches of the canyon.

Jawbone Siphon stretches for more than 8,000 feet across the Mojave Desert southwest of Red Rock Canyon State Park.​

 

[Arkain2K]

A team of mules hauls sections of pipe for the Jawbone Siphon in the Mojave Desert.

The steel pipe segments were supported by piers spaced at regular intervals along the aqueduct. Animal teams were used to haul materials to work sites.

Smoke billows from construction equipment used to shovel mounds of dirt for the bed of a canal.

With snow-covered mountains in the background, workers stand on a dipper dredge used to excavate a section of aqueduct canal.

A view of construction along the Los Angeles Aqueduct.​

 

[Arkain2K]

The work force, which topped out at about 3,900, received food, housing and medical care.

Rail lines, roads and temporary housing were built for the project, most of which spans a remote region northeast of Los Angeles.

A view of workers constructing the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

More than 140 tunnels that added up to more than 40 miles in length were blasted and drilled for the aqueduct system.

Working conditions were extremely difficult, due in large part to the Mojave Desert region's extreme heat during summer and cold temperatures in the winter.​

 

[Arkain2K]

Workers pose for a picture at one of the many camps that dotted the landscape during construction of the LA Aqueduct. Accident and death figures vary, but the 1916 "Complete Report on Construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct," published by the city, placed the number of fatalities at 43.

Rows of camp housing provided shelter for workers during construction of the LA Aqueduct.

This split image shows the Elizabeth Tunnel in 2012 (left) and during construction. Workers bore through 604 in one month, setting a world record for hard rock tunneling. At more than five miles, the longest of the aqueduct's tunnels is about 15 miles west of Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County.

People lined the Newhall Spillway in November 1913 for the dedication of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. During the ceremony, Mulholland said, "This rude platform is an altar, and on it we are here consecrating this water supply and dedicating the Aqueduct to you and your children and your children’s children-for all time. That’s all."


​

 

[Arkain2K]

The Sierra Nevada Mountains rise to more than 14,000 feet in elevation behind Owens Lake. The mountains are seen here in May 2007 near Lone Pine.

Large shallow pools of restored water cover portions the salty crust of mostly-dry Owens Lake on May 6, 2007 near Lone Pine. Land and water rights needed for the aqueduct project became a source of conflict between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley, a dispute that was grist for books and films.

Riparian, or streamside, habitat along the lower Owens River before it empties into Owens Lake.

Another view of the Sierra Nevada Mountains behind Owens Lake.

The Los Angeles Aqueduct carries water from the snowcapped Sierra Nevada Mountains, to major urban areas of southern California in May 2008 near Lone Pine.​

 

[Arkain2K]

Noble, but I don't see how they reverse this now. They have over 10 million people and probably half of the state's wealth aligned against them.

History becomes history.

The squabbles have been going on for decades, but this is the first time Eminent Domain is being used as a weapon.

Stealing people's water and basically left those towns to die, that was such a scumbag move by LA. I hope the Valley wins in the eventual court proceedings and get at least some of their water back.

 

[AznTrojan]

i drink your milkshake.. deal with it...

 

[Arkain2K]

I guess we wouldn't have to steal people's water this year.

 

[Your Salad]

Theyre about to do the same thing up here in the East Bay/Central Valley
Trying to drain the Sacramento River and send the water to los angeles
Its bullshit but Im sure its gonna end up happening because money

Yes, the Delta tunnels. Backed by my liberal and "environmentally friendly" governor Jerry Brown. I voted for this ass hat. I'm pretty pissed about this one. (and the fucking gas tax)

 

[Arkain2K]

 

[HunterSdVa29]

that drive up the 395 from like outside china lake to the nevada border essentially is phenomenal

trying to get me one of these things

 

[Arkain2K]

Making Los Angeles completely water self-sufficient won't be easy or cheap. But it can be done
By Mark Gold | Mar 19, 2018

The concrete of the Los Angeles River. ​

Despite another hot and dry year with less than four inches of rain in the Los Angeles area, we are back to our water-wasting ways. Two years ago, Californians were using 24% less water compared with 2013. This year, we're hardly conserving at all — just 1%.

Clearly, our earlier successes were more behavioral than structural. If lawn removal and new efficient fixtures and appliances had saved all that water, we wouldn't be seeing this momentous backslide. Meanwhile, our sources of imported water — from the Delta, the Colorado River, and the Los Angeles aqueduct — have all been revealed as vulnerable to politics, drought, climate change and crumbling concrete in recent years.

Los Angeles sorely needs to transform its water infrastructure. In a proactive move, Mayor Eric Garcetti and the city of Los Angeles this month released the Resilient Los Angeles plan, which outlines 96 steps to strengthen the city. Among the smartest moves: reduce our reliance on imported water from the current 85% to less than 50% by 2035.

Right now, if an earthquake severed our connection to the L.A. Aqueduct, the State Water Project or the Colorado River Aqueduct, we would quickly be in dire straits. With a local supply portfolio — balanced between recycled water, captured stormwater, and groundwater — the city will survive catastrophes. Pumping less water from faraway sources has environmental benefits too. Moving water across the state uses huge amounts of energy. Leaving more water in the Delta, Owens Valley and the Colorado River watershed would reduce ecological impacts and the carbon footprint of our water supplies.

The bigger question is could Los Angeles become entirely water self-sufficient by 2050? Even as we face climate change and population growth? The answer is yes, but it will require a modern, integrated approach to water management.

Currently, only 1% to 2% of the city's water supply comes from recycled water, but that could supply roughly 40%. All the wastewater going to the Terminal Island Treatment Plant gets recycled, but that's not the case at the Tillman, Glendale or Hyperion treatment plants. Those three dump treated wastewater into the L.A. River and Santa Monica Bay.

If all the treatment plants were upgraded, their recycled water could be injected or filtered into our local groundwater basins. This highly treated wastewater could be pumped directly to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's drinking water filtration plant for distribution to customers — providing the state establishes regulations for direct potable reuse — within a decade.

Stormwater is another local source we haven't adequately tapped. Based on a DWP study, urban runoff can provide an additional 58,000 acre-feet of water, or about 11% of current annual use. But the potential is there for much more: In an average rainfall year, 270,000 acre-feet per year of stormwater ends up flowing down the L.A. River into the ocean. Funding for green stormwater infrastructure could come from the L.A. County Safe Clean Water Measure, which is expected to be on the ballot this November.

The final piece of the puzzle is our local groundwater basins. If Los Angeles can improve rainwater absorption with green streets and alleys, infiltration basins, biofilters and other nature-based solutions, local aquifers can provide approximately 114,000 acre-feet per year. An essential first step is already underway: the remediation of the San Fernando Valley aquifer. Our primary local aquifer, it became so contaminated with industrial chemicals that it's a Superfund site. But the city, with support from the state, has begun a $600-million project to clean it up. By cleaning the groundwater, DWP could provide residents and businesses with up to 20% of local water supply.

If we tally all those sources — recycled wastewater, captured stormwater and new groundwater — Los Angeles has about 372,000 acre-feet of local water that it could bring online by 2050. That's still not quite enough for a population likely to be 4.5 million.

The mayor's plan uses a consumption rate goal of 98 gallons per capita per day. To achieve complete water self-sufficiency, Angelenos would need to decrease consumption to approximately 75 gallons per capita per day. Numerous Australian, Southeast Asian and Western European cities have managed that. For Los Angeles to join them, all properties within the city will need to replace turf with native, climate-appropriate landscapes. Residents will need to use water-efficient washing machines and dishwashers. Commercial properties will need to install water-efficient cooling technologies. Also, DWP customers should get individual smart meters that provide real-time consumption information.

Going local on water won't be easy and it won't be cheap. But it can be done. The city managed similar transformation once before when — in the span of a decade — it rebuilt the Hyperion Treatment Plant, replaced miles of old sewer lines and stopped dumping sewage sludge to clean up Santa Monica Bay. If that history can repeat itself, the benefits for Angelenos and distant ecosystems are enormous.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livable-city/la-oe-gold-local-water-20180319-story.html

 

[MadSquabbles500]

You guys can also use a lot of more of these

 

[ToxicShocker]

I understand that having ample farmland is a national security concern, but im not gonna shed a tear for 20 million worth of Owens valley farmland. What's the AG industry in the central valley worth, 10 billion?

Plus if we didn't fuck them over we wouldnt have the movie China Town.

 

[Arkain2K]

Theyre about to do the same thing up here in the East Bay/Central Valley
Trying to drain the Sacramento River and send the water to los angeles
Its bullshit but Im sure its gonna end up happening because money

Yes, the Delta tunnels. Backed by my liberal and "environmentally friendly" governor Jerry Brown. I voted for this ass hat. I'm pretty pissed about this one.

It's happening, with big helps from NorCal politicians.

San Jose water agency approves up to $650 million for Jerry Brown’s Delta tunnels project
By Paul Rogers | May 8, 2018

In this photo taken Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, a boat cruises down the Delta Cross Channel between the Sacramento River and Snodgrass Slough near Walnut Grove, Calif.​

In a significant boost for Gov. Jerry Brown’s $17 billion plan to build two massive tunnels under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley Delta to more easily move water south, Silicon Valley’s largest water agency Tuesday endorsed the project and voted to commit up to $650 million to help pay for it.

With a 4-3 vote after a packed four-hour meeting, the Santa Clara Valley Water District reversed a decision it made in October to oppose the two-tunnel project.

Unions and Silicon Valley’s largest business group recommended a yes vote, while environmental groups, Delta residents and the majority of speakers urged a no vote. Critics argued the project would harm wildlife and water quality in the Delta and San Francisco Bay, while also putting ratepayers of Santa Clara Valley at risk for cost overruns similar to those that occurred on the Bay Bridge and high-speed rail projects. The district’s staff said the project would cost the average ratepayer $10.26 a month in higher water bills by 2033.

Immediately after the vote, Brown praised the district for supporting the controversial tunnels plan, which along with high-speed rail is viewed as one of his legacy projects.

“Simply put, this courageous decision will help two million Santa Clarans have a more reliable water supply,” the governor said.

Critics also weighed in.

“It is irresponsible for a seven-member board, without a vote of its ratepayers, to commit astronomical sums of money to a project that has never had a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis or accurate cost estimate, threatens to destroy an entire ecosystem and way of life and does not create a single drop of new water,” said Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Fairfield, who represents Delta communities in eastern Contra Costa and Solano counties.

Other large Bay Area water agencies, including the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Contra Costa Water District, and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, are not participating in the project.

A boat passes Webb Tract farmland as it makes its way through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta near Isleton. Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal would send Sacramento River water under the delta to farms and communities in Central and Southern California.
​

The tunnels plan, which would be one of the largest public works projects in California history, still has significant hurdles to clear before construction can begin. It must obtain water rights from the State Water Resources Control Board, has already been hit with at least 30 lawsuits and has not yet received clear support from any of the six major candidates for governor who are most likely to succeed Brown when he leaves office in eight months.

“This is a project that is certainly more likely to go forward — both tunnels — than it was a couple of months ago,” said Buzz Thompson, a Stanford law professor and water expert. “But it’s not a done deal.”

The board members who supported the project Tuesday — Barbara Keegan, Tony Estremera, Gary Kremen and Nai Hsueh — said it would help provide more reliable water to Silicon Valley in the future and would be cheaper than recycled water, desalination and other sources.

“We want to try and get stability and cover the future needs of Silicon Valley,” Estremera said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s important for us to have as much security as we can.”

Board members Dick Santos, Linda LeZotte and John Varela voted no.

The project, which Brown’s administration has called WaterFix, would build two tunnels, each 35 miles long and 40 feet high. The $16.7 billion cost would be paid by water agencies that participate through higher water rates and possibly higher property taxes. The tunnels would move water from the Sacramento River, 17 miles south of Sacramento, to the huge pumps at Tracy that are part of the State Water Project, reducing reliance on those pumps.

Courts have ruled that the pumps must be turned down, or shut off temporarily, at certain times of the year, when salmon, Delta smelt and other endangered fish swim near those pumps. Tunnels bored more than 100 feet below Delta mud would allow the state to more easily move water south during very wet winters in “big gulps,” supporters argue.

“California is the fifth largest economy in the world, and Silicon Valley is a primary driver of the GDP,” said Mike Mielke, senior vice president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which represents many of the largest businesses in Silicon Valley. “Our success — the envy of much of the world — is at risk unless we protect our water supply.”

But critics called the tunnels a costly boondoggle that would allow large agribusiness interests in the San Joaquin Valley, as well as urban users in Los Angeles, to eventually take more fresh water out of the Delta, a fragile system of islands and sloughs that flows into San Francisco Bay. They called it a water grab from Northern California that would degrade wildlife and water quality in San Francisco Bay and the Delta, while also saddling ratepayers with a blank check.

“Other than labor and the business community, I have not received a single message of support,” said board member Varela. “I choose not to mortgage our constituents’ future with unfettered debt.”

The tunnels project, which is similar to the Peripheral Canal project that state voters rejected in 1982 when Brown also was governor, had been struggling for cash. Late last year, Westlands Water District, a large farm water agency in Fresno, backed out of contributing $3 billion, citing high costs and debt risk.

But last month, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves 20 million people in Los Angeles and other counties, breathed new life into its chances when it increased its contribution to $10.8 billion, providing new momentum.

Several Santa Clara Valley Water District board members said Tuesday that Metropolitan’s decision motivated them to change course. They said that only by helping design, fund and build the tunnels could they have a seat at the table. Santa Clara Valley would have one seat on a five-member partnership to design and build the project; Metropolitan would have two, the Kern County Water Agency would have one and the State Water Contractors, a coalition of 28 water districts and cities, would have another.

Opponents said the district would likely be outvoted by Southern California interests, whom they did not trust to protect the environment or the water rates of Santa Clara County residents.

“Those, coupled with my uneasiness with the superior position of Met, makes it impossible for me to support this project,” said board member LeZotte.

The district’s chairman, Dick Santos, agreed.

“This is a very complex project and unfortunately it comes with too many risks,” Santos said. “Too many yellow flags.”

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05...llion-for-jerry-browns-delta-tunnels-project/

 

[Jack V Savage]

@PolishHeadlock, this sound familiar?