Six more water reuse projects in the San Francisco Bay area would be eligible for US federal funding if a bill introduced in the House of Representatives on 14 May 2009 is passed.
Water recycling is already under way throughout the Bay Area, but the new bill, introduced by nine Bay Area representatives, would bring a saving of an estimated 2.6 billion gallons (9.84 million m³) per year.
It would involve pump stations for Concord, Dublin, Petaluma, Redwood City, Antioch and Palo Alto, including Stanford University, and is projected to cost US$ 403 million, of which US$ 73 million would be paid by the federal government, if the Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Expansion Act becomes law.
The new bill builds on the Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Authorization Act, signed last year, which allowed eight water-recycling projects to receive federal funding this year from the Bureau of Reclamation. This allows local water managers to use treated wastewater for landscape irrigation and other uses, including golf courses, schools, city parks and other municipal facilities.