Marin County Gets $6B for Recycled Water Program

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Marin County is set to receive $6 billion in federal stimulus funds to improve and develop the county’s recycled water program.County supervisor Charles McGlashin says that recycling water is a priority and that the funds will allow the county to expand and develop a grey water system.

“[The] problem is you have to build a completely separate piping system, so they tend to be very expensive. It’s also really tricky in homes to use grey water—you actually have to use separate piping so that you don’t ever accidentally connect grey water pipes with your actual drinking water.”

Dual piping is called purple piping, and McGlashin says he has a dream that every community west of the Mississippi will have a dual-plumbed system.

The Marin Municipal Water District has been a leader in using recycled water. He says several of the landscaping areas around the Marin Civic Center and other city buildings have partnered with water district to use recycled water.

McGlashin says the state water board needs to do more work to price water correctly to treat water as the precious commodity that it is.