The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County in the US have inaugurated a water recycling programme.
By helping refill groundwater basins across Southern California, the programme is expected to provide water to several homes in the country.
The agencies broke ground on a 500,000-gallon-per-day, $17m demonstration advanced purification facility that would generate information needed for the potential future construction of a full-scale recycled water plant.
The facility is set to cost about $2.7bn to build and $129m to operate annually.
At present, the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant of the Sanitation Districts in Carson treats and cleans wastewater discharged from homes and businesses.
As part of the new water programme, Metropolitan will use various advanced processes to purify treated wastewater and produce a quality water source that is expected to help replenish groundwater basins in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Sanitation Districts chief engineer and general manager Grace Hyde said: “Now, we’re thrilled about the possibility of cost-effectively recycling the water at our last untapped source, which would let us play a bigger role in helping the region’s communities reliably meet their future water needs.”
Operating for at least one year, the demonstration facility will produce data for a potential full-scale plant and will help refine the treatment process.
The programme is expected to produce up to 150 million gallons of purified water per day.
This article originally appeared on Water Technology website.