On California, the drought and the ‘yuck factor’.
David Sedlak: Our water systems bring water into our cities from great distances, and that means we need lots of infrastructure—dams, reservoirs, treatment plants and pipes.
Are these water recycling systems already being used in the state?
There are several of these advanced treatment plants in California.
It’s likely they’ll have a potable recycling project up and running in the coming decade.
The constructed wetlands that we’ve spent the most time studying is a system in Riverside County on the Santa Ana River called the Prado Wetlands.
We’re currently in the process of conducting experiments in support of several different types of wetland treatment systems that are being considered in the Bay Area.
Will climate change affect the country’s water supply?
But the problem is the kinds of solutions that are needed to deal with the drought often require a long time to build, so it’s hard to build a new water supply over night.
But very few people currently own them in California.