People wearing business suits and hard hats broke ground Wednesday in Santee for the East County Advanced Water Purification Plant.

It’s part of a plan of four East County water agencies to take wastewater, that’s now treated and dumped in the ocean, and turn it into water that’s clean enough to drink.

The water recycling plant is expected to provide 11.5 million gallons a day of purified wastewater for East County ratepayers.