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A Northern California city just launched operations on a technology that could change the future of drought resilience in the region and bring clean drinking water to millions.

The city of Antioch, located in the Bay Area, has launched a $116 million desalination plant that will convert brackish water from the San Joaquin River into fresh, drinkable water, according to the State Water Resources Control Board. Once operational, the facility will produce up to 6 million gallons of clean water per day, enough to cover about 40% of the city’s drinking supply.

The Delta Conveyance Project continues to make progress with two key milestones to push the project forward — a certification of consistency submitted to the Delta Stewardship Council and a state appellate court decision allowing pre-construction geotechnical work to continue.

Governor Gavin Newsom has announced two recent key victories to advance the Delta Conveyance Project — a critical infrastructure project to safeguard California’s water supplies amid a hotter, drier future.

As the pumps whir around us, Denis Bilodeau motions to the liquid in the vats below. It looks like iced tea, but in fact it’s secondary treated sewage, cleaned of any solids by the plant next door. In less than an hour, and after three steps of processing, we will be drinking it – as pure water.

The Groundwater Replenishment System facility in Orange County, California, houses the pipes, filters and pumps to move up to 130m gallons each day – enough for 1 million people – processing it from dark to clear. The facility, which opened in 2008, is part of broader moves to help conserve water.

California’s mountain snowpack has long acted as a free, natural water reservoir. Each winter, snow builds up in the Sierra Nevada and melts slowly in spring, helping fill rivers, support wildlife, and supply communities across the state.

But researchers are seeing troubling changes. New findings suggest this vital water source is becoming less reliable, a warning sign in a warming world, the Public Policy Institute of California reported.

Rural America is a long way from Taiwan. But cyber power is no respecter of geography. Should China make good on its repeated threats to reunify the island by force, the utilities that provide water and power to small towns all over the United States may find themselves on the digital front lines of a 21st century superpower war.

Hackers linked to China have accessed the IT networks of hundreds of small and medium-sized U.S. water systems and other utilities with a view to sabotaging American water and power supplies in the event of a conflict, CBS reported this week, detailing a threat that U.S. officials warned of two and a half years ago.