The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is recognizing the progress of water recycling and reuse as the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program is almost 30 years old.
Water scarcity across the West has heightened with more than 20 years of a long-term drought — but the foresight that created the program is helping support a source of water through reuse.
The Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse was created in 1992 and signed as part of the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 by President George H.W. Bush on Oct. 30.
Title XVI of the Act authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to identify and investigate opportunities to reclaim and reuse wastewater and impaired ground and surface water in the 17 Western States and Hawaii. Now, Reclamation also provides cost-shared grants for planning, designing and constructing non-federal water recycling and reuse projects in partnership with local government entities.
Since the bill's signing, Reclamation has allocated more than $1.1 billion in federal funding for the design and construction of water recycling projects. Water reuse projects constructed with funding from the program reported actual deliveries of more than 440,000 acre-feet of water in 2021, or approximately 143 billion gallons of recycled water. That is enough water for more than 2.3 million people.
"Over the past 30 years, Reclamation and our partners have shown how we can turn currently unusable water sources into a new, sustainable water source that is less vulnerable to drought and climate change," says Camille Calimlim Touton, Reclamation Commissioner. "Water recycling helps provide water to grow crops, sustain wildlife and the environment, and, in turn, meet our mission of providing clean and reliable water.
