10/22/26
New Out West podcast episode explores the promise of desalination and water reuse in the West
A new frontier of water management is opening up across the West.
As our lakes, aquifers, and rivers face unpredictable drought conditions from year to year, western communities are exploring new ways to strengthen and diversify their water supplies.
Desalination and water reuse have emerged as one promising tool to turn previously unusable water resources into vast amounts of new supply.
In this episode, Beyond Drought: The Promise of Desalination and Water Reuse, WGA’s Elias Jaynes speaks with Dr. Peter Fiske of Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory's National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI); Jeremy Crutchfield of San Diego's Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant; Dave Pederson of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District; Tanya Trujillo, the Deputy State Engineer and Senior Water Policy Advisor to the Governor of New Mexico; Jonas Armstrong, the Director of the Water Protection Division at the New Mexico Environmental Department; and Scott Reinert of El Paso Water, about the promise of seawater desalination, inland brackish water desalination, water reuse, and emerging technologies for water treatment.
Altogether, these strategies are designed to ease the pressure on the West’s freshwater resources and bring in new supplies to benefit the entire region.
To listen, click the embedded player below. You can also find the Out West podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Podbean.