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HISTORY The first water reclamation plant in the United States was built in the Grand Canyon in 1926 for treating water used for irrigating landscape and toilet flushing. California's first recycling project began in 1929 when the city of Pomona started using treated municipal wastewater for landscape irrigation. Other water recycling projects took hold early in the 20th century including San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The park was first irrigated with untreated wastewater in 1889 to increase the fertility of the soil. A water reclamation and reuse plant was built for the park in 1932 and used until the 1980s. Recycled water may again be used in the park by the year 2000. Recharge Project was launched almost 40 years ago, the amount of water spread over the basin has increased from an initial 13 million gallons a day (mgd) - 15,000 acre-feet a year - to 45 mgd - 50,000 acre-feet a year. (One mgd equals 1,120 acre-feet annually.) Water recycling headed into a new era when, in 1971, the city of Irvine became the first water agency in California allowed to sell recycled water directly to users. By installing a dual plumbing system - 245 miles of potable and non-potable piping, pumping stations and reservoirs - for industry and business, Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) reclaimed between 2 mgd to 3 mgd of water. The recycled water was then sold to customers for irrigating crops, landscape, greenbelts and gait courses. By 1997, IRWD was treating 15 mgd and reuse had expanded to include toilet-flushing in high rises and carpet dying, a business that uses 500,000 gallons of water a day. Approximately 20 percent of Irvine's water demand is met with fa. cycled water and those who use recycled water in place of potable supplies save $28 per acre-foot. There are plans to further expand the uses of IRWD's recycled water to include office air- conditioning cooling towers and car washes. WRD's Montehello Forebay Project began nearly 40 years ago and currently prevents groundwater overdraft by recycling 50,000 acrecteet afwater As more people realized recycled water was a legitimate water source, the numbers of projects involving recycled water increased. In 1962, the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD), in conjunction with the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, began recharg- ing overdrafted groundwater basins with recycled water. Since the Montebello Forebay Groundwater a yew: 6 By 1995, more than 485,000 acre-feet of water were recycled annually in California. Approximately 32 percent was used for agriculture; 27 percent to recharge groundwater; 17 percent for landscape irrigation; 13 percent for miscellaneous applications; 7 percent tor industrial reuse; 3 percent for environ- mental uses; and 1 percent for sea water intrusion barriers according to the Department of Water Resources' (DWR) California Water Plan Update, Bulletin 160-98.