California Regulator Adopts Rules for Converting Wastewater to Drinking Water

The state’s regulator says the new rules would allow water systems across California to generate ‘a climate-resilient water source.’

A worker climbs stairs among some of the 2,000 pressure vessels that will be used to convert seawater into fresh water through reverse osmosis in the Western Hemisphere's largest desalination plant in Carlsbad, Calif., on March 11, 2015. Gregory Bull/AP Photo

California regulators approved regulations on Dec. 19 that would enable water system agencies to establish treatment protocols for converting wastewater into high-quality drinking water.

The state Water Resources Control Board said that would allow water systems throughout the state to generate “a climate-resilient water source” while reducing the amount of wastewater released into rivers and the ocean.