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Los Angeles will soon begin building a $740-million project to transform wastewater into purified drinking water in the San Fernando Valley, expanding the city's local water supply in an effort to prepare for worsening droughts compounded by climate change.
The city plans to break ground next month to start construction of new facilities at the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys. When completed, the facilities will purify treated wastewater and produce 20 million gallons of drinking water per day, enough to supply about 250,000 people.
The drinking water that the plant produces will be piped 10 miles northeast to L.A. County's Hansen Spreading Grounds, where it will flow into basins and percolate into the groundwater aquifer for storage. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will later pump the water from wells, and after additional testing and treatment, the water will enter pipes and be delivered to taps.
"It's a major step forward for the city," said Jesus Gonzalez, the DWP's manager of water resources. Through this project, he said, the city will start using recycled water as a "new source of sustainable, drought-proof drinking water supply."
L.A. has been recycling wastewater for decades but has previously used the treated water for outdoor irrigation in areas such as golf courses and parks. With the new facility, which is scheduled to be finished in 2027, the city will for the first time start using purified recycled water as part of the drinking water supply.
The initiative, called the L.A. Groundwater Replenishment Project, was approved last month by the city's Board of Water and Power Commissioners. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials have called it a key piece of their efforts to invest in local water supplies and reduce reliance on imported supplies that are growing less reliable with climate change.
The project has been in the making for three decades. The city built part of...