Coastal Blog — Know Your H20
October 04 2011
Los Angeles Adopts Low Impact Development Ordinance
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
After several years of advocacy by the environmental community, Los Angeles, California finally passed a LID ordinance to restore some natural watershed functions to developed urban areas.
September 19 2011
San Diego’s Water Purification Demonstration Project Wins Award
The WateReuse Association has recognized San Diego’s Water Purification Demonstration Project for the “2011 WateReuse Public Education Program of the Year Award." Along with examining the use of advanced water purification technology to potentially provide safe and reliable water for San Diego’s future (at less cost and with less environmental…
August 19 2011
LEGAL BATTLE AGAINST CARLSBAD DESALINATION CONTINUES AS POSEIDON IS STILL SEARCHING FOR FUNDING
Know Your H20 Desalination Legal
On August 18, 2011, Surfrider filed an appeal from a June decision by Judge Judith F. Hayes of the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. In pursuing legal actions such as this one, Surfrider is striving to promote and achieve the goals of our Know Your H2O program…
July 25 2011
Wastewater Recycling Expands in Texas
Both reclaimed water systems (treated wastewater used for irrigation) and potable reuse systems are expanding in the Fort Worth area and throughout the state of Texas. Although this is partially in response to the current drought, it makes sense even in non-drought times. In Big Spring, a local water authority…
July 12 2011
Wastewater Recycling - College Students Get It
A recent opinion piece in San Diego State University's Daily Aztec by senior Randy Wilde points out the multiple advantages of operating the Water Purification Demonstration Project and potentially building a larger-scale version of this facility to establish a reliable, local drinking water supply at a lower cost than ocean…
June 30 2011
Illegal Wastewater Discharges in Maui
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Quality
The Surfrider Foundation joins other community groups in filing a notice of intent to sue the County of Maui to force them to comply with the Clean Water Act and get the needed discharge permits to continue injecting their wastewater into the island's groundwater.
June 15 2011
LA to Follow OC’s Lead on Wastewater Recycling
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is following the lead of Orange County in implementing both and Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) system and an expansion of their "purple pipe" reclaimed water system.
June 09 2011
Pollution Prevention System at UC San Diego Wins Awards
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
An innovative pollution prevention system at UC San Diego and Scripps Institution of Oceanography has won awards from engineering societies and garnered kudos from a regulatory agency.
May 18 2011
LID in Action in San Francisco
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
The City of San Francisco and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency broke ground last week on the Newcomb Avenue Streetscape Model Block Improvement Project, a first of its kind project to transform a street block into one of the most sustainable streets in San Francisco. The pilot streetscape improvement project will…
May 16 2011
Wastewater Recycling Advances in San Diego County
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
An article published in the San Diego Union Tribune today discusses plans for wastewater recycling projects throughout San Diego County and the growing public acceptance of this practice. From the article: "More than half of the region’s major water districts are planning or exploring expansions of recycled water use. Projects…
May 13 2011
Shut Your Tap!
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
We were pleased to see a great blog post from Chad Reese, who is an MBA candidate in Sustainable Management at Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. Chad points out the wasted energy and misspent resources (not to mention the pollution impacts to the ocean) from leaving your tap running…
May 09 2011
Poop to Power in Orlando
Know Your H20 Wastewater Water Recycling
While we've blogged a lot on closing the wastewater loop via indirect potable reuse and reclaimed water use, there has been less attention paid to the solid side of things. Traditionally, "biosolids" have been utilized as soil amendments and have occasionally been used as a supplemental fuel in such industrial…
April 27 2011
Increased Water Self-Sufficiency in the Northwest
Two recent articles pointed out efforts in the Northwest to increase water recycling and thereby increase water self-sufficiency. In Oregon, the Department of Environmental Quality is developing proposed rules for the reuse of graywater, or non-potable water. In Washington, an elementary school in Seattle is taking the bold step of…
April 05 2011
We Can Capture More Stormwater
Know Your H20 Low Impact Development
A recent Op-Ed by Richard Atwater, executive director of the Southern California Water Committee, makes the point that we can capture up to 1 million acre-feet of stormwater per year (double the current amount), significantly enhancing local supplies, reducing reliance on imported sources, and reducing pollution that flows to the…
March 31 2011
Orange County to Expand Wastewater Recycling System
Orange County Water District has announced that they will expand their award-winning wastewater recycling system, increasing its capacity from 70 million gallons per day (MGD) to 100 MGD. This is good news for local water supply reliability and good news for the ocean.
March 29 2011
Moving Toward Water Self-Sufficiency
Barry Nelson of NRDC just wrote a great article highlighting efforts by Santa Monica, Long Beach, San Diego and a couple of water districts in Los Angeles who have significantly reduced their amounts of imported water through a variety of strategies, including developing local groundwater supplies, conservation and wastewater recycling.…
February 23 2011
