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Santa Monica Uses Innovative Water Recycling Facility to Capture and Store Rainwater

Santa Monica has been using a pioneering water recycling facility since November to capture rain and store it underground for future use. As Southern California has been experiencing seemingly constant rainfall, the city has been capturing stormwater, urban runoff, and municipal wastewater and purifying it for potable reuse. This first-of-its-kind facility is located beneath a parking lot and features a 1.5-million-gallon stormwater harvesting tank and a one-million-gallon-per-day advanced water treatment facility. The recycled water can be used for irrigation, toilet flushing in buildings that have dual plumbing, and to recharge groundwater aquifers.

Santa Monica Has Captured Most of Its Rain This Winter

As yet another atmospheric river descends on Southern California this week, Santa Monica is prepared. Since November, the city has been using a first-of-its-kind water recycling facility to capture rain and store it underground for future use.

“Instead of this water flowing into the ocean, we’re taking that back and keeping it locally to replenish water supplies,” Santa Monica water resources manager Sunny Wang told Spectrum News 1, as he stood atop the stealthy infrastructure that makes it possible: a parking lot.

One Way Out of a Drought? Technology That Makes Water Potable.

Santa Monica, California, used to rely heavily on water imported from the northern part of the state. But now less than half the coastal city’s water is imported, which spared the community from the state’s mandatory outdoor water restrictions that began at the beginning of June.

“That doesn’t mean we’re just sitting around doing nothing,” said Santa Monica’s water resources manager, Sunny Wang. “We’re looking at increasing our conservation efforts.”

Two LA Cities Are Innovating Their Way Out of Severe Drought Restrictions

There are two schools of thought on how to navigate the West’s historic drought: Use less water or find new ways to make more of it usable. A few cities are trying to do both, and so far, it’s spared them from some of the most stringent drought restrictions.

In the last drought, Santa Monica used to rely heavily on water imported from Northern California. But now less than half of Santa Monica’s water is imported, which spared them from the mandatory outdoor water restrictions that began at the beginning of June.

Santa Monica Breaks Ground on Potable Water Treatment Plant

The City of Santa Monica, Calif. has broken ground on its Arcadia Water Treatment Plant (WTP), as well as on restorations to the Olympic Well Field. The key water infrastructure improvements are a component of the City’s goal of becoming water self-sufficient by 2023.

Santa Monica’s water system comprises groundwater basins, treatment facilities, and imported water connections to serve 18,000 customers with an average annual water demand of approximately 11,600 acre-feet per year (AFY).

Santa Monica-Based Group Wins Historic Wastewater Recycling Suit

Every day Hyperion Water Treatment Plant discharges enough treated wastewater into the ocean to fill the Rose Bowl 2.5 times over. Now a court has instructed state water officials to analyze whether it is “wasteful” and “unreasonable” to dump billions of gallons of wastewater into the sea.

City of Santa Monica Projects Nearing Completion

Although the city of Santa Monica is delaying, scaling back or canceling $40.4 million in capital projects through next June as municipal revenues dry up during the coronavirus shutdown, several major projects that predate the crisis are finished or nearing completion.