More cities and special districts are using the sun to help power their water-treatment plans in an effort to reduce energy costs.



As this story from Sign On San Diego notes, water is heavy and has to be moved around a lot. Plus, water plants have plenty of room for solar panels and suck up much power.

One project in San Diego has 4.3 acres of solar panels, and more agencies are getting into the game. In Santa Cruz, thousands of solar panels at three water treatment plants will shave $1 million off power bills over 25 years, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

Madera city officials are using 94 panels mounted on a dual-axis structure that tracks the sun movements. Over 20 years, the city will cut about $3 million off its sewage-treatment power bill, according to The Fresno Bee.

Expect more projects like these.