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2025 California Water Law Symposium

Wastewater Reuse for Potable Water

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Sean Bothwell, Executive Director, California Coastkeeper Alliance

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Regulated & Environmental Community Partnership

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Statewide Goals

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  • Recycled Water Policy: 1.5 AFY by 2020
    • Governor: 800,000

AFY by 2030

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  • Recycled Water Policy: 2.5 AFY by 2030
    • Governor: 1.8 million

AFY by 2040

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Funding Needs

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Constituents of Emerging Concern & Building Public Confidence

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Habitat Compression: Ocean Acidification & Hypoxia

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Statewide Goal

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Reuse all discharges of wastewater to the ocean that can be put to a beneficial use

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Ensuring Co-Permitting:

Recycled Water Facility (Safe Drinking Water Act) & Wastewater Facility (Clean Water Act)

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Water Affordability

  • Proposition 218 limits agencies from charging for water anything more than “the proportional cost of service attributable to the parcel.”

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  • Increased water demand costs are frequently passed on to households through increased rates and surcharges, falling disproportionality on low- income households

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  • “Proposition 218 protects lower-than-average users from having to pay rates that are higher than the cost of service for them because those rates cover capital investments their levels of consumption do not make necessary.” - “CITY OF SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO” Capistrano Taxpayers Assn., Inc. v. City of San Juan Capistrano, 235 Cal.App.4th 1493, (Cal. Ct. App. 2015)