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CASA’s Regulatory Workgroup regularly puts together a comprehensive e-newsletter to share all regulatory updates on key issues and workgroup initiatives with the CASA membership. If you are interested in receiving these regulatory updates, please contact Jared Voskuhl. Last month’s edition is available here.
SWB Releases Results of 2021 Volumetric Annual Report
On August 2, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board/SWB) provided an update summarizing the results of the 2021 Volumetric Annual Report for wastewater and recycled water. SWB staff compiled the 2021 volumetric data from 700+ facilities that submitted the required information by the annual April 30 deadline. This year’s report included analysis of recent trends in California, since there now are three consecutive years of this data, and included a broader discussion about revising our statewide goals for recycled water.
The reporting showed a slight increase in recycled water use statewide from 2020 to 2021, and most of this increase was in potable water reuse. Agricultural reuse, landscape irrigation, and golf course irrigation were all slightly down, as expected in a serious drought. Total Title 22 uses in 2021 was reported as 732,000 AF, but this does not include recycled water used for instream flows and natural systems. In 2020 environmental uses totaled nearly 256,000 AF. With all of this information taken together, the state is recycling over 1 MAF per year. The wastewater discharged to oceans and bays also saw a significant reduction. Since reporting started in 2019, these wastewater discharges have decreased by approximately 20%. The SWB released an infographic with the results of the report. Please contact Jared Voskuhl or Spencer Saks with any questions.