California Municipal Wastewater Treatment & Reuse

19 May 2015
Available with corporate subscription

This Data Insight, California Municipal Wastewater Treatment & Reuse: Market Drivers, Trends, and Outlook, highlights key drivers and trends impacting greater deployment of reuse systems in the state that is confronting its fourth year of extreme drought.

California, which holds 28% of US municipal reuse capacity, has another 2.4 million m3/d of announced capacity additions in various stages of development. Indicating further potential to harness reclaimed water are the 479 operating wastewater treatment plants in California analyzed by Bluefield Research. Only 160 of the plants are outfitted with the capability to reuse wastewater effluent, wastewater flows.

A central focus of the report is the water & environmental policy landscape shaping the California wastewater reuse market going forward. At the forefront future change are 372 urban water suppliers in the state. These suppliers were recently mandated by Executive Order in April 2015 to reduce water usage by an average 25%. Urban water suppliers currently source 3% of their water from reclaimed sources.

This Data Insight highlights the following:

  • Critical water & environmental policies shaping the California wastewater reuse market going forward.
  • Identification and analysis of planned projects and their impact on market growth.
  • Analysis of more than 479 existing projects, including reused water application, capacity, reuse vs. disposal rates, and location
  • The outlook for advanced water treatment technologies and primary drivers for their adoption.

Data Analyzed:

  • State policies 2009 to present impacting municipal wastewater reuse
  • 479 municipal wastewater treatment plants
  • Wastewater flows by county
  • Reclaimed water use by sector & region
  • 372 water supplier plans, 2010-2035
  • 85 planned municipal wastewater reuse systems– upgrades, expansions, and greenfield
  • Analysis of wastewater flows from 50 ocean outfalls