November 17, 2009
California Governor Signs Legislation that Includes $1 Billion for Water Recycling
The Sacramento Bee
November 10, 2009
California voters will have the opportunity to approve a bond in November 2010 that would pay for a package of legislation, which provides $1 billion for water recycling and desalination projects and completely reforms and rebuilds the state's aging water system. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the five-bill package of legislation on November 9. The voters must approve the $11.1 billion bond by referendum.
Read More...
GE to Boost Spending in $5 Billion Water Reuse Market
Bloomberg
November 13, 2009
GE Water recently announced plans to bolster research and technology development by 50% in the next two or three years in an effort to obtain more of what they estimate to be a $5 billion market to provide equipment for utilities and governments to treat and reuse water. "We think it's going to be a great business not only in the U.S. but in China," where much of the country has limited access to water, said GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt. "The entire Middle East is constrained. So this is a problem that's shared broadly."
Read More...
Australia Sees Decline in Water Flow into Wastewater Treatment Plants
ABC Rural
November 13, 2009
Water restrictions, more water-efficient appliances, and increased water recycling are all leading to dramatic declines in the flow of wastewater to treatment plants in drought-affected rural towns in Australia. The volume of water has decreased by as much as 50% in some treatment plants. Officials are concerned that the reduction in water could lead to difficulties in moving solids through the systems.
Read More...
Power Outage Takes Out Tampa Desalination Plant
St. Petersburg Times
November 10, 2009
A recent power outage in Apollo Beach, FL shut down the Tampa Bay Water desalination plant for several days and created a "water hammer" or surge that led to several pipe leaks. The surge was intensified because officials were running the plant above its 25 million gallons per day capacity when the power outage occurred. Tampa Bay Water's reservoir went dry in the spring and the Southwest Florida Water Management District ordered the utility to lower its groundwater pumping to below the 90 million gallons per day allowed by their permit by December 31.
Read More...
Maui Seeks Strategies to Reuse More Water
Maui Weekly
November 5, 2009
A new task force has been formed in Maui, HI to find viable ways to use Maui's reclaimed water. An excess of about 11 million gallons per day of reclaimed water is produced at treatment facilities, but without sufficient storage and distribution capability to make use of all of it, the excess is sent down injection wells. The group is expected to deliver its ideas in a report in December 2010.
Read More...
West Coast Grape Growers Confront Water Shortage
Wine Spectator
October 29, 2009
Confronted by a three-year West Coast drought, grape growers and winemakers in Northern California and Oregon are taking emergency measures to reduce water use. The measures taken include using recycled water, pulling up vineyards and digging water-storage ponds, and irrigating more efficiently, all part of an effort to comply with increasingly restrictive government water-use rules. State governments in California and Oregon have both mandated water use reductions. Growers are hoping this winter will bring more rain and snow due to a predicted mild El Niño event.
Read More...
New Projects...
Recycled Water to Help Coastal Farmers
Santa Cruz Sentinel
November 12, 2009
Federal, state, and local officials gathered in Watsonville, CA on November 12 to celebrate the opening of a new $32 million water recycling plant designed to help farmers move away from over pumping groundwater resources. The plant is operated by the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency and produces eight million gallons of irrigation water daily during growing season. The customers are coastal farmers whose wells have become contaminated by seawater.
Read More...
Desalination Plant Near San Diego Receives Final Permit
San Diego Union Tribune
November 4, 2009
After an 11 year effort, the California Coastal Commission issued the final permit for a 50 million gallons per day desalination plant in Carlsbad, CA on November 3 and the developer has begun preparing the site for construction. Posideon Resources is building what will become the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere and plans to have the facility operating by 2012. Poseidon must still line up $530 million in financing and several environmental groups have filed formal challenges to the permits.
Read More...
$32 Million Project to Pave Way for Water Recycling
Streetcorner.com
October 30, 2009
The New South Wales, Australia Water Minister recently announced that work has begun on a AU $32 million infrastructure upgrade project, which will pave the way for the privately-owned Rosehill Camellia Recycled Water Scheme. The AU $100 million project will deliver 4 billion liters of recycled water to Sydney's biggest industrial users. AquaNet Sydney and Veolia Water Australia, the private operators of the Scheme, will extract treated effluent from the pipeline, treat it at the recycled water plant, and transfer it through a network of pipes to industrial customers to be used in cooling towers, for irrigation, and as boiler feed.
Read More...
Fort Worth Gets $22 Million in Federal Stimulus to Build Recycled Water Pipeline
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
October 25, 2009
Officials in Fort Worth, TX have announced plans to be begin construction in February 2010 on a long-planned pipeline that will deliver recycled water to golf courses and other users thanks to a $22 million grant from the federal stimulus program. Fort Worth has been planning to build the system for several years but never had the funding. The line will run about nine miles and is expected to be operational by the end of 2010.
Read More....
Other News...
Obama Orders Water Reuse, Other Sustainability Initiatives for Federal Agencies
President Obama signed an Executive Order October 5 that directs federal agencies to identify, promote, and implement water reuse strategies as part of an integrated strategy towards sustainability in the federal government. The Executive Order also requires federal agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.
Read More...
Federal Funding Would Help Northern CA Water Recycling
Press Democrat
October 24, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Expansion Act of 2009 (HR 2442), which would authorize $42 million for nine recycled water projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the recipients of funding under the legislation would be $8 million for Redwood City, $6 million for Petaluma, $5 million for the South Bay Advanced Recycled Water Treatment Facility, $1.8 million for the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, and $1.1 million for the Dublin San Ramon Services District. The bill has been received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Read More...
Rebate Approved for Desalinated Water in Southern California
San Diego Union Tribune
November 12, 2009
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) approved an agreement on November 10 with the San Diego County Water Authority to provide a rebate of $250 on every acre-foot of desalinated ocean water used from a planned desalination plant in Carlsbad, CA. MWD first approved incentives for desalination projects in 2001, and authorized an agreement in 2005.
The recent vote was the last step in finalizing the agreement.
Read More...
Call for Abstracts Issued for 2010 Conferences
Calls for Abstracts have been released for the 25th Annual WateReuse Symposium and the WateReuse Foundation's 14th Annual Water Reuse & Desalination Research Conference. The 25th Annual WateReuse Symposium will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC on September 12-15, 2010 and abstracts are due January 25, 2010. The 14th Annual Water Reuse & Desalination Research Conference will be held at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay in Tampa, FL on May 24-25, 2010 and abstracts are due December 14, 2009.
To learn more about submitting an abstract for the 25th Annual WateReuse Symposium, click here.
To learn more about submitting an abstract for the 14th Annual Water Reuse & Desalination Research Conference, click here.