San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer will be one of several mayors traveling up to Sacramento Tuesday, talking to Gov. Jerry Brown about water-saving measures during the drought.
Faulconer spoke with members of the media ahead of his meeting with Gov. Brown at the State Capitol.
He toured the city’s water recycling project, which takes treated water from our toilet and purifies it for drinking water.
The project is a demonstration project at North City Water Reclamation Plant at the moment, but it is something Faulconer said could provide a third of the city’s water supply by 2035.
“Well, it’s not going to be inexpensive, but I think as all of us know, as we’re in the fourth year of the drought, we have to make these infrastructure investments just as we’ve done before to plan for our future,” Faulconer said.
The plant, however, still needs state permits and funding to become an actual full-scale plant.
Funding will be one issue Faulconer will discuss with Gov. Brown Tuesday. He plans to ask for state water bond money and other funding to go toward the project.
Local
“We have to move forward to build this water recycling because we cannot be at the whims of whether the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles or others,” Faulconer said. “We have to control our local water supply.”
Faulconer will join other mayors across the state Tuesday to discuss drought measures. He plans to ask Brown for help to kick-start San Diego's water recycling program. He will also ask the state water board to set a fair water conservation mandate that would protect the economy.
