California’s housing market has continued to be buoyed by a strong economy, low interest rates, and a growing demand for all levels of housing. But one factor could considerably slow the state’s planned residential expansion: lack of water.

Even before the current specter of historic drought conditions in the West was raised, the California Department of Water Resources was predicting chronic water shortages by the year 2020. For new developments that have increasingly reached into regions with restricted or tenuous sources of water, the availability of reliable potable water has been a limiting factor. But as the cost of acquiring or importing water to serve these developments has grown, alternatives such as the use of recycled water for residential and public irrigation uses have become increasingly more feasible.

Meeting demand with recycled water
Recycled water is highly treated wastewater that is safe for many purposes, including the irrigation of parks and golf courses, agricultural irrigation, wetlands restoration and various industrial uses. Recycled water that has the greatest potential for human contact undergoes three careful levels of treatment and filtering. The final, or tertiary, treatment includes filtration and additional disinfection to destroy bacteria, viruses, or other disease-causing organisms. These combined processes in many ways mimic the water purification process that regularly occurs in nature.

In most areas, conservation and the use of recycled water are two of the most achievable sources of reducing overall potable water demand. Throughout California, more than 4,800 sites already use recycled water, and recycled water is an important part of the water supply in several other states.

Making recycled water a community asset
One recent example of how recycled water has been successfully used to allow planned development in a region with limited water supply is the Serrano development in El Dorado Hills by Parker Development Company and Catellus Development Corporation.

Located east of Sacramento in El Dorado County, Serrano is recognized as one of the largest and most prestigious master-planned communities in California. An upscale development area that includes several individual gated neighborhoods, the 3,500-acre community is anticipating build-out of approximately 4,500 homes with approximately 1,000 acres of open space.

The project was initially approved in 1988 with secure potable water for only 2,000 residential units, and no secure water for the golf courses, parks or landscaping. El Dorado County has limited water rights and at the time was anticipating gaining additional water supply rights and a new water contract, although the water wouldn’t be available before Serrano was scheduled to open.

The solution was to develop recycled water as an irrigation source for the project, a concept that dovetailed with Serrano’s overall direction of preserving and enhancing the local environment. The development team worked with El Dorado Irrigation District, or EID, to fund treatment plant upgrades to produce recycled water for the golf courses, public areas and wetlands enhancements. Serrano invested approximately $9 million in water treatment plant and infrastructure improvements and agreed to pay for the cost of operations and maintenance of the system for seven years after completion.

By 1998, it became apparent that litigation would continue to delay any additional water supplies for El Dorado County. Since the lack of water effectively capped Serrano’s supply of buildable lots, the decision was made to further extend the county’s existing water resources by providing recycled water for residential front and back yard irrigation throughout the remaining home sites in Serrano.

In total, more than 3,800 homes in the development will use recycled water for all their landscaping needs, making Serrano the first residential project in the Sacramento region to implement such an extensive program. In 1998, Serrano was recognized with the "Project of the Year" award from the WateReuse Association.

Public benefits
Although Serrano initially bore the cost of implementing a recycled water system in El Dorado County, the program has become increasingly important to EID, the local water agency. So important, in fact, that the district recently mandated that all new developments use recycled water where feasible. In addition, the district estimates that using recycled water could save up to $100 million in treatment costs through 2025 by eliminating discharges into area streams.

"Expanding use of recycled water allows us to demonstrate to the industry and to state regulatory agencies that we can wisely manage the additional water allocated to EID by responsibly extending our use of existing resources," says Ane Deister, EID general manager. "Serrano helped prove that recycled water was an alternative that would be embraced by the public on a larger scale than simply golf courses and parks."

Educating homeowners Serrano has made customer education an important part of creating acceptance of the use of recycled water for landscape irrigation. Potential buyers are informed of the program ahead of time, and most like the idea of "helping the environment" by using recycled water. Homeowners also see the benefit of lower water bills, since irrigation accounts for up to two-thirds of total water usage and recycled water is supplied at approximately one-half the cost of potable water.

"Offering recycled water for residential irrigation is a positive selling point for Serrano and has positioned our master planned community as innovative and environmentally respectful," says Bill Parker, president of Parker Development Company. "In fact, our new home salespeople have found recycled water to be an important benefit when selling the community’s amenities."

New homeowners are supplied with information on the operation and maintenance of the recycled water system that answers a number of basic questions on the water source and its uses.

Environmental and economic benefits
For many new developments, there is an opportunity during project planning and design to provide long term economic and environmental benefits through the use of recycled water. By augmenting this increasingly scarce resource, developers can significantly extend the use of available potable water and provide benefits to homeowners in the form of reduced water bills.

Working together, developers, local agencies, engineers and organizations like the WateReuse Association can develop effective solutions and education programs that allow for the successful implementation of recycled water programs as part of a safe and beneficial integrated water resources solution.

Kirk Bone is director of government relations for Parker Development Company.

Paul Klein is a vice president with RBF Consulting and president of WateReuse Association, California section.

Builder and Developer Magazine