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Costs and Financin The significant costs of constructing water recycling plants and distribution networks are seen by some as the biggest impediment to increased water recycling. Construction costs for recycling facilities vary, but generally, the more advanced the treatment and grealer the distance of the distribution network the higher Ihe costs. Retrofitting a community for recycled water - laying out the pipelines - is a significant cost component. For example, Monterey County's tertiary treatment plant and accompanying distribution system will provide over 20,000 acre-feet of treated water and cost approximately $78 million - $34 million for the recycling plant and $44 million for the distribution network (see page 17). San Diego's proposed repurification plant was estimated to cost $150 million for 16,000 acre-feet of new supply. However, constructing traditional facilities to increase water supplies - off-stream dams and reservoirs - also is very costly. Contra Costa County's new offstream reservoir at Los Vaqueros will store 100,000 acre-feet of water and cost $450 million. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's (MWD) Eastside Reservoir, under construction in Riverside County, will store up to 800,000 acre-feet of water (with a 400,000 to 500,000 acre-feet dry year yield) and is estimated to cost over $2 billion. Agencies dependent on surface water and groundwater supplies also must continue to purchase increasingly expensive water. Furthermore, construc- tion of on-stream reservoirs and dams can harm fish and riparian habitats and such impacts are not accounted for in the water supply costs. With advances in technology, recycled water is becoming less expensive to produce. Surface water imported to southern California is sold by MWD on a wholesale basis of $431 an acre-foot after treat- ment whereas recycled water that undergoes advanced Ireatment at Ihe nearby Orange County Water District's Factory 21 costs $470 an acre-foot. Similarly, IRWD sells its recycled water to landscape irrigators for $28 an acre.foot less than the alternate source of blended groundwater and imported water. Water recycling proponents also point out that many reclamation and reuse benefits are not calculated into standard economic cost analyses. Specifically, values inherent in water recycling projects, such as environmental benefits, energy savings and water supply reliability, are not rellected in the final cost. Likewise, reduction in the amount of effluent discharged into some waterways when water is recycled is not calculated into the price of recycled water. Water recycling also increases supply reliabil- ity, thus reducing reliance on increasingly expensive and sometimes unreliable imported supplies. , ~ II B it Ii ,,,.! ".. ~8~ .. Recycled water has been used succe.ufully to irrigate golf course greens. 13