UPDATE: Guaranteed Water for Industry Program (GWIP) passed unanimously.
The Guaranteed Water for Industry Program (GWIP) will go to City Council on Tuesday, October 29th. Chapter 6, Article 7, Division 38 of the San Diego Municipal Code enumerates regulations on the use of potable water by all of its water customers, including industrial operations such as manufacturing and product development. In 1998 the Code was amended to provide a regulatory incentive for manufacturers to use the City’s reclaimed (aka “recycled”) water in lieu of potable domestic water “to the extent possible.” The technical success of the City’s Pure Water Program, combined with the technical and regulatory hurdles to the use of reclaimed water in industrial facilities indicates a need to amend the Code to instead encourage innovative and creative industry-specific and site-specific potable process water conservation measures instead.