SB 918: Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

Every year California flushes more than 4 million acre-feet of water into the ocean after one use — more than the State Water Project delivers to the Bay Area, the Central Valley, and Southern California. SB 918 directs the State Department of Public Health to develop criteria for ensuring safe indirect and direct potable use — the processes by which recycled water is used to recharge groundwater basins and augment surface storage reservoirs. By creating these clear state-wide reuse standards, California will be better able to develop a drought-resistant, cost-effective water source and take pressure off our rivers, the Delta, and depleted groundwater reserves.