One of the world’s largest metropolitan areas has been built in the desert. We call that desert home. The only way the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, including Orange County and Anaheim, has been able to develop to the extent that it has is because of the efforts of William Mulholland and the California Water Project. The California Water Project has been able to provide for most of Southern California’s water needs over the years. However, because of increased demand, drought and politics, the supply of water has not been able to keep up with demand.
Over the past few years, many of the cities that are still expanding geographically have been building into their infrastructure a recycled water system, often referred to as a purple pipe program on account of the color of the pipes used. A purple pipe program both reduces demand for new water and increases the supply of water. Water from the purple pipe is used only for irrigation and a few other indoor uses, since it’s not considered potable (although in truth, it would be perfectly safe to drink.) But irrigation is one of the biggest uses of water, so reducing the use of “clean” water for this single purpose can have a huge impact on the overall demand for water.
Unfortunately, Anaheim is not still growing geographically. For the most part, we are a built out city. Anaheim has a huge challenge to build a purple pipe program simply because it will require the retrofit of many streets to add the new pipes. It would be cost prohibitive to build the type of large purple pipe systems that Irvine has built in their newer areas. Instead, Anaheim needs to build smaller systems that can serve limited areas and later be connected to one another to form a larger system.
To this end, later this month the city is planning on starting construction on a Water Recycling Demonstration Project at City Hall. This project will take waste water from in and around City Hall to provide not only irrigation but also water for toilets and urinals within City Hall West. In the future, this system will be able to provide reclaimed water for nearby developments and parks that have been designed to use reclaimed water.
The Waste Water Demonstration Project is a perfect example of how the City of Anaheim needs to identify future needs and implement solutions today for those needs. The lack of water will only grow in future years. Small scale purple pipe systems are the only way forward for Anaheim, and the City is out to prove it’s possible.
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