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Some ways Manteca can recycle water
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Editor, Manteca Bulletin

I understand why Mayor Weatherford is seeing purple (Dennis Wyatt’s July 24 column, “Manteca: The Mother of All Water Wasters”).

It’s ridiculous to keep dumping millions of gallons of clean treated waste water into the river each year, and absolutely nuts to be doing so during this drought. I doubt that plumbing the City with purple pipe is on anyone’s agenda right now, but there are other ways of moving water around.

I worked for Peterson Caterpillar in San Leandro for 30 years. Cat manufactures a entire line of water trucks that can carry and deliver thousands of gallons of water at a time (Google ‘Caterpillar water truck’ images). There are many designs for different applications in construction, mining, and agriculture.

Both Peterson Cat and Holt of California rent and maintain this equipment. It seems to me that the City could meet all of its landscape watering requirements, including the golf course and watering the 120 Bypass landscaping, either by watering directly from these water trucks, or by delivering the water to a site and then tapping into pre-existing plumbing and delivery systems.

Furthermore, it may be possible for the City, perhaps in partnership with South San Joaquin Irrigation District, to sell and deliver water to local farmers and livestock operations to cover the cost of renting the water trucks, hiring staff, and setting up the system. The farmers could dig a holding pond or rent a portable water tank to store it until they used it. I believe that SSJID is currently working directly with local farmers to help them set up more efficient systems for using the water that they do have.

I wonder, too, if some of the treated water could be pumped into those wells that the City has been forced to cap because they don’t meet water quality standards, and in that way replenish the underground aquifer.

The City pays to clean this water, and then dumps it into the river. It’s a shame not to take advantage of such a valuable asset.

Stephen Breacain

 Manteca