The San Francisco Bay Region, situated in the semi-arid central portion of California (Fig 1), is an area of high potential for wastewater reclamation and reuse–particularly for urban water uses and streamflow augmentation. This is true even through the upper end of the San Francisco Bay estuarine system (i.e., the delta formed by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers) is the hydrographic focus of watersheds which receive two-thirds of the state’s precipitation. Urban growth, water exportation commitments, and a public demand to curtail river development are converting this region from a water surplus area to a water shortage area. In this perspective, wastewater which is now discharged to the ocean and estuary is viewed as a resource “out of place”.