California Falling Short on 2030 Recycled Wastewater Goals

California isn’t meeting its recycled water goals, and billions of gallons of treated wastewater are being discharged into the ocean or other water bodies each year, according to state regulators, who say drought conditions could cause future supply challenges.

To increase water reliability, the state set a goal to recycle 2.5 million acre feet of wastewater a year by 2030, with an interim goal of 1.5 million acre feet by 2020. Wastewater treatment plants in 2019 recycled 686,000 acre feet of water, according to new State Water Resources Control Board data.

“It’s pretty ambitious, and we’re not quite on track ...