LA Breaks Ground On Indirect Reuse Project To Tackle Water Vulnerability And Climate Resilience

Los Angeles recently broke ground on a $740-million advanced water purification facility to transform wastewater into potable drinking water. Once completed, the LA Groundwater Replenishment Project (GWR) will be able to purify 20 million gallons of wastewater to drinking water standards, enough to supply 250,000 residents daily. The GWR has been decades in the making and aims to address the city's water vulnerability due to climate change and reliance on imported water.

The facility will use a multi-step purification process to create “distilled-quality” water. Purified water will be piped to LA County’s Hansen Spreading Grounds, replenishing the San Fernando Groundwater Basin. The water will undergo a two-year natural filtration process in the basin before being extracted from existing wells and further treated to drinking water standards.

Construction is expected to be completed by 2027.