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Over the last few months, water resources and droughts have been headline news across the country. Less than 1 percent of the world’s fresh water is readily accessible for direct human use. To address water scarcity and the need for conservation, WateReuse California advocates and promotes the responsible stewardship of California water resources by maximizing the use of recycled water.

Last July, the East Bay Municipal Water District (EBMUD) completed construction of a water recycling and purification plant onsite at the Chevron Richmond Refinery called the Richmond Advanced Recycled Expansion (RARE ). This plant uses microfiltration and reverse osmosis to produce the extremely high-purity water needed to make the steam Chevron uses to manufacture gasoline and other oil products.

Take a tour of the Richmond Refinery's RARE system.

It takes a gallon of water to produce a gallon of gasoline, which can impact local water supplies. So Chevron partnered with the East Bay Municipal Utility District to develop the Richmond Advanced Recycled Expansion (RARE) Water Project. RARE recycles about 3.5 million gallons of municipal wastewater per day for use in our Richmond, Calif., refinery, in effect freeing up freshwater supplies for the community.

Video Transcript (22 KB)

With the startup of the RARE Plant, 60 percent of the water Chevron now uses is EBMUD recycled water. This has freed up 3.5 million gallons a day of fresh water for other customers; enough water to supply 16,000 homes or approximately 46,000 people.

Water reuse and recycling has been adopted successfully around the globe. Israel reuses more than 70 percent of its water, Singapore recycles 15 percent and Australia, which now reuses 8 percent, has a national goal of reusing 30 percent of its water by 2015. There’s still room to expand water reuse programs in the U.S., especially in California, where water resources are limited and in high demand.

Earlier this year, WateReuse California awarded Chevron the Recycled Water Customer of the Year award for its water conservation and reuse efforts. Using existing, successful models such as Chevron’s RARE program, WateReuse California will continue to promote, advocate and identify new opportunities for water recycling technology to be adopted throughout our state.
—David Smith, managing director of WateReuse California

The WateReuse Association is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the beneficial and efficient uses of high-quality, locally produced sustainable water sources for the betterment of society and the environment through advocacy, education and outreach, research, and membership.