Wastewater and Recycled Water Functional Area Document

A variety of challenges face the Bay Area’s ability to effectively collect, treat, and distribute recycled water on a regional scale. However, through years of coordinated regional planning, Bay Area clean water agencies have been able to clearly identify the challenges they face, and have developed strategies to conquer those obstacles, allowing successful implementation of large-scale water recycling programs. The Bay Area’s history of regional planning, coupled with the multi-disciplinary, integrated nature of recycled water projects and the diverse benefits these projects offer, render the Bay Area’s proposed water recycling platform of paramount importance to the region’s ability to achieve its objective of maintaining a high quality, reliable drinking water supply, while protecting and restoring its sensitive habitats. Through staged implementation the projects and programs outlined in this Functional Area Document, the Bay Area will take real steps toward ensuring a long-term, reliable, sustainable water supply that supports the region’s environmental objectives.