Understanding Order WQ 2016-0068-DDW: California’s General Recycling Authorization

What is Order WQ 2016-0068-DDW?

A general order of water reclamation requirements for recycled water use. The order itself authorizes Producers, Distributors and Users to use recycled water for uses consistent with the statewide recycling criteria in Title 22, other than direct or indirect potable reuse.

It replaced Order WQ 2014-0090-DWQ, the 2014 general order for recycled water use, and moved that order's enrollees over. It also asked the Regional Water Boards to end their own general orders and waivers for non-potable uses within three years, so one set of terms would apply statewide.

What does the order not cover?

Anything aimed at disposal, recharge or drinking water. The order lists activities it does not authorize:

• Groundwater replenishment, including spreading basins, percolation ponds and injection wells.
• Disposal of treated wastewater by percolation ponds, excessive hydraulic loading or any method whose primary purpose is disposal.
• Direct potable reuse, indirect potable reuse for groundwater recharge, and surface water augmentation.

It also does not cover producing recycled water. The treatment plant keeps its own WDRs or NPDES permit, and the order requires compliance with any recycled water provisions in them. Because the order allows no discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, it is not an NPDES permit.

Who enrolls, and how?

The Administrator. Any of four kinds of entity may apply and agree to become the Administrator:

• a Producer, public or private, that makes recycled water meeting Title 22;
• a Distributor, which may add treatment such as disinfection and need not take physical possession of the water;
• a User that takes physical possession and distributes to other Users;
• a legal entity, such as a joint powers agreement among those parties.

The applicant files a Notice of Intent and an application fee with the Regional Water Board. A program spanning several regions can file with the State Water Board instead. Coverage starts when the board issues a Notice of Applicability, and the Administrator pays an annual fee until coverage ends.

What does an enrolled program have to have?

An approved Title 22 engineering report and a program that enforces it. The order requires recycled water use to comply with:

• the Title 22 recycling criteria and the related cross-connection rules;
• an approved Title 22 engineering report showing compliance with those criteria;
• the Notice of Applicability;
• any salt and nutrient management plan adopted into the Basin Plan;
• any water quality mitigation measures from the project's CEQA document;
• Water Code section 1211, where a change in discharge to make recycled water will reduce flow in a watercourse;
• the State Water Board's Recycled Water Policy.

The Administrator must set and enforce rules for the design, construction and use of recycled water facilities. It must inspect for cross-connections and require backflow testing, and stop deliveries when the water may be off specification, notifying the Regional Board within one business day.

What does the order require at a use site?

Control of where the water goes. The prohibitions apply at every use site:

• No pollution or nuisance.
• No irrigation on saturated soils.
• No surface flow leaving the use area unless another order allows it.
• No spray or runoff into dwellings, food handling facilities or drinking fountains.
• No cross-connection between potable and recycled water piping.

Irrigation and other frequent uses must run at agronomic rates that account for soil, climate, plant demand and the nutrients in the water. Infrequent uses, such as dust control, firefighting and hydrostatic testing, must be covered by practical measures in an implementation or operations plan.

The order's text points to Title 17 for backflow protection. Those Title 17 rules have since been replaced by the State Water Board's Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook, in effect since July 1, 2024.

When does a Regional Board push a project off the general order?

When the project could degrade water quality. The Executive Officer can tell an applicant to revise the project or get a site-specific order, if the board finds that the project:

• does not meet the order's antidegradation findings, for salinity, nitrogen, pathogens or disinfection by-products;
• stores recycled water in unlined ponds in a way that does not meet those findings;
• would cause pollution or nuisance, or conflict with the Basin Plan or state plans and policies;
• does not carry out the mitigation measures in its CEQA document;
• conflicts with a TMDL allocation or a salt and nutrient management plan.

This is the main risk to a schedule built on the general order. Check these points against the site before you count on it.

What does this mean for a developer?

It depends on whether you buy recycled water or make it.

• Buying from an enrolled agency: you join its program as a User and follow its rules, often through a use permit or agreement. The order's own text notes Users may use recycled water under another Administrator's water recycling use permit. Your work is the site design and the agency's approval.
• Making your own: a project with its own plant is a Producer. It needs WDRs or an NPDES permit for the plant, an approved Title 22 engineering report, and then either enrollment as an Administrator or site-specific water reclamation requirements.

If the reuse is really disposal, the general order does not apply at all. Our post on choosing between WDRs and recycled water rules covers that line. For a site connecting to an established program, see Title 22 recycled water in San Jose.

Limits of this article: this is general education on the order as adopted in 2016 and the rules in effect in October 2026. Check the State Water Board's site for amendments, and confirm coverage for your use with the Regional Board and the local Administrator.

Frequently asked questions

Does the general order replace the Title 22 engineering report?

No. It requires an approved Title 22 engineering report. The Regional and State Water Boards coordinate the report's conditions into the Notice of Applicability.

Can recycled water be used for construction dust control under this order?

Yes, if the Administrator's approved program includes it. The order lists dust control among infrequent uses that need measures in an implementation or operations plan.

Does the order cover groundwater recharge projects?

No. Groundwater replenishment and indirect potable reuse need their own permits under the Title 22 recharge criteria.

Who is the Producer if our development has its own private treatment plant?

The entity that owns or operates the plant. It may also act as the Administrator if it applies and the board approves its program.

I'm planning a business park in the Inland Empire and want to irrigate it with recycled water from the local water district. Do I need to file anything under Order WQ 2016-0068-DDW myself?

Probably not. If the district is an enrolled Administrator, you apply to the district as a User and follow its rules. Ask the district whether its program covers your uses, and what site plans and agreements it needs.

Related resources

• The Title 22 Engineering Report: The Real Bottleneck in California Recycled Water Projects
• California's New Direct Potable Reuse Rules: What the Regulations Actually Require and Where Implementation Stands
• The Six Month Rule: What California's NPDES Timeline Actually Says and What It Does Not
• Water engineering in California

Not sure whether the general recycling order covers your project?

We check your source, your uses and the local Administrator's program, then design the recycled water system to the path that actually applies. Tell us about your project.

We specialize in:

• Recycled water system planning and design
• Title 22 engineering reports
• Wastewater treatment plant design
• WDR and recycled water permit applications
• Cross-connection control and backflow design
• Site civil engineering for land development

Modern Engineering Solutions, McKinney, Texas. Contact: (214) 833-6748 or mod-eng.com