In a plan that will go back more than 300 kilometers to the north, the leaders of the city of Los Angeles decided almost twice the waste water that will be converted into drinking water in Van Nuys in Van Nuys in Van Nuys in Van Nuys.
Instead of treating 25 million liters per day as originally planned, the LA Board of Water and Energy Commissions voted to treat 45 million liters, enough water for 500,000 people.
Board President Richard Katz said this would prevent the city from drinking water from the Sierra streams that feed mono lake – which has fueled LA’s failure to allow the lake to rise to a healthy level.
“This is a multi-winner solution,” Katz said. As soon as the regenerated water started flowing, he said, “We won’t need Mono Lake water to meet the needs of La”
Visitors to Mono Lake’s South Tufa Hallow Walk on the beach during the August visit. Beautiful tufa towers on the coast were formed over the centuries and left high and dry as Los Angeles passed the water from the nearby stream.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
He and other members of the Board say that this plan will help LO weather the drought, we will have enough in a sufficient area and take less water from distant sources.
The expanded project is set to be built in late 2027 at a cost of $930 million.
More than a dozen environmental lawyers spoke on Tuesday at a meeting where votes were held to praise the decision, saying that the project has been delayed for a long time. They are celebrating it as a solution that will deliver reliable water reliably and economically, while empowering the Department of Water Resources and the power to keep alive its commitment to restore Mono Lake.
“This is a big, big success,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of the Los Angeles group, adding that the project provides critical water resilience that LA needs, with a drought-proof source of local water. “
Construction is underway at the Dunald C. Tillman Water Treatment Plant in Van Nuys.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
When it was built it started 10 months ago At the sewage treatment plant, project leaders quickly realized the potential to nearly double the capacity by building a ground-level addition to the site.
The drinking water produced by the plants will be pumped 10 kilometers into a series of contaminated foundations spread along the hansen Dam’s soil, where it will be re-flooded. Water can be caught from wells by wells, and once tested and diverted forward, it will enter the pipes and be brought to it by the taps.
Orange County has been treating and treating sewage into clean drinking water for years. LA has reused and recycled wastewater for decades but previously used it outside of golf courses and parks. From 2028, for the first time, the city will use it for drinking water.
This page LA Groundwater Replenishment Project He has been in the making for three decades.
The city was partially built on the plan, including the pipeline, in the 1990s, but the effort was scrapped in 2000 when controversy erupted over it from opponents and newspaper headlines. It’s called the “Tear-to-Tap” Project. The controversy was there run a mayoral campaign And the 2001 vote moderated the village to the city.
“This project was delayed for 20 years because of a popular political slogan,” Katz said. “It took a long time and a lot of science for people to get past that.”
Mariya Nichols, former chair of the California Air Resources Board, is happy to see the project finally come to fruition.
LA is far more dependent on water Imported from hundreds of kilometers awayand Nichols said it was “an act of Karma” to finally “dedicate this new discovery to the discovery” of Mono Lake, an ecosystem that he said was in “poor condition.”
Los Angeles was ordered to help Mono Lake recover to a healthy level under World 1994 Resolution by the State Water Resources Control Board. However, after 31 years, Latin Lake East of Yosemite is still about 9 feet below the required level.
For years, environmentalists have urged the city to take less water from its feeders.
The lake, which provides important habitat for migratory birds, “is in crisis and they need our help immediately,” said Martha Davis, leader of the nonprofit’s Benefits Committee.
He said the recycled water would do more than make up for the 2% of LA’s water that comes from local sources.
A construction crew works at the Dunald C. Tillman Water Almmamation Plant in Van Nuys on Oct. October 30, 2025.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
Other speakers referred to recent coverage of the Los Angeles Times examining long runs Fight for the health of Lono Lakeand problems further south in the Owens Valley, where indigenous tribal leaders are urging the town to be Reduce groundwater pumpingwho dry up springs and meadows.
When voted on, Board members said it was important to rely less on water transported across the country from stationary wells.
“We need to do it to heal our relationship with the people of the eastern Sierra, who have been victims of the need for the city for generations now,” said George Mcgraw, President of the Post. “I very much hope that this project is the first in a long line of those who make water completely safe and independent.”
He added that this is as important as climate change it causes a long, severe drought.
Katz said Lake Lake “needs to be denied” and that the city has a “responsibility to help us undo some of the damage we’ve done there.”
He added one caveat: LA doesn’t plan to give up its drinking rights to Laye Lake and could still need that water during a severe drought or other emergency.
“But short of an emergency, I think we should leave as much water there as possible.”
