Severe drought, dwindling local water supplies and the high costs associated with imported water have many utilities looking for new ways to increase their local drinking water supplies to fill future needs. In Southern California, several public and private utilities have chosen water reuse as the answer to these problems. “In California, these treatment processes are called AWT’s, or advanced water treatment plants,” said Mehul V. Patel, P.E., Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) director of water production.