Its purpose is to provide a reliable alternative water resource for recharging groundwater in the San Fernando Valley basin, and will eventually deliver water for industrial and commercial use. The East Valley Project is the cornerstone of the efforts by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to meet the City's goal of using about 80,000 afy of recycled water by the year 2010, to replace about 10 percent of L.A.'s future fresh water use. Water is a precious limited resource. Since there are no new sources of water for Los Angeles, we have to use it wisely and recycle it whenever possible. Normally, millions of gallons of water from the City's water reclamation plants are treated and released into the ocean each day.
Water recycling provides urban water with a second useful life.
Recycled water is a readily available alternative resource which is unaffected by weather. Water recycling projects such as this will improve the overall reliability of the Los Angeles water supply by reducing the city's dependency on imported water and lessening the need for stringent water conservation measures during drought periods. During times of water shortage, recycled water supplies will not be restricted and the cost per unit will be about 30 percent below the rate for fresh water supplies. The first major phase of the pipeline will extend from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys to the Hansen Spreading Grounds in the Sun Valley area of the San Fernando Valley. The initial phase of the project will be constructed over a two year period, and may later be extended to the Pacoima Spreading Grounds.