Preserving our most precious resource
When you turn on the tap for a glass of water, do you think about where it comes from? Or when you take a nice, toasty shower on a cold day? In the spirit of our upcoming Q2 issue, Healing, and in celebration of Earth Month, we’re sharing a community project in San Diego that aims to bring our water supply local. This carries major implications for the City of San Diego, making it less vulnerable to droughts, climate change, and natural disasters. Healing the Earth, on a policy level, is important, too. And, we’re proud to share that some of the leaders of our very own AAPI community are heavily involved in ensuring that the work on the project happens with the community in mind.
Currently, San Diego relies on importing 85% of its water supply from the Colorado River and Northern California Bay Delta. Only 8% of home and business wastewater is recycled; the remainder is treated and discharged into the ocean. Pure Water San Diego is a two-phased, multi-year program that aims to provide nearly half of San Diego’s water supply locally by 2035.
Using technology that transforms the water system into a complete cycle that maximizes our use of water, the purification process has cleared more than 50,000 water quality tests for federal and state standards. This will result in a reliable, sustainable supply of safe, high-quality drinking water in the City of San Diego.
At a price tag of $1.5 billion for planning, design, and construction of the new facilities, this stands as the largest integrated infrastructure ever undertaken in San Diego. Curious about where this is all happening? You can see the construction currently underway on Miramar Road, if you ever find yourself in the area. And if you’d like to learn more, you can visit virtualtour.purewatersd.org for a tour of the Pure Water Demonstration Facility. Now, the next time you turn on the tap, you’ll know where it’s coming from!
Images from Pure Water San Diego Project. Cover photo from rawpixel.com.
