Gavin Newsom urges a voluntary 15% reduction in water usage, the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant‘s inability to fully treat sewage has forced local officials to divert drinking water to uses normally served by recycled water. “This is water we can’t afford to spare,” said Loyola Marymount University professor emeritus John Dorsey, a wastewater treatment and watershed management researcher. The complications, he said, have resulted in the West Basin district repeatedly violating its permit level for turbidity since July 30. The injected water creates a barrier that prevents salt water from seeping into a huge aquifer, according to water officials. AdvertisementCrews scrambled for their lives as the sewage water overran the building housing the bar screens and flooded other buildings, including a two-story pumping structure that filled with sewage water.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 11, 2021 12:02 UTC