Water Guardian

FOR MILLIONS OF CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS DADAKIS IS the one who keeps clean water flowing—a challenging task as the state faces one of the most severe droughts in its history.

Dadakis is director of health and regulatory affairs and interim research director for Orange County Water District (OCWD), which oversees, manages and protects the region’s groundwater basin, serving more than 2.4 million residents. OCWD also owns and operates the world’s largest recycled water project for potable use, known as the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) project. It can produce up to 100 million gallons of water per day, meeting the water demands of approximately 850,000 people in north and central Orange County.

The nitty-gritty of how the GWRS works is not exactly ap- petizing, at least not at first: Treated sewage or wastewater that would otherwise be sent to the ocean for disposal is purified through a three-step process centered on reverse osmosis. The water is then put back into the aquifer system to replenish the groundwater basin and prevent seawater intrusion. “From a psychological standpoint, the public is more comfortable with an environmental buffer between treatment and use,” says Dadakis. “We can demonstrate that the water quality coming out of the facility is very pure, as good or better than traditional drinking water supplies, but people tend to have more comfort with it when it’s introduced back into the environment—it breaks its history a little more.”

Dadakis, who studied earth sciences at Dartmouth and has a master’s in hydrology and water resources from the Uni- versity of Arizona, says individuals can make a difference by considering their water footprint: “Think long and hard about whether you mow every week and just look at it, and now—as your rates go up—are you spending a lot of money watering it to keep it green?”

Dadakis says the Orange County water recycling facility produces up to 100 million gallons per day of potable water.

“I’m not gonna tell you to rip all your grass out, but is it just a visual, ornamental thing or are you using it with your kids or dog?”