California Water

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(No Transcript)
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California Water

• Imported Supplies
• Groundwater
• Storm Water
• Water Transfers
• Desalination
• Water Recycling

Central Valley Project 1931
State Water Project 1960s
Delta 1960s
1913
1939
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Orange County Water District

• OCWD, formed in 1933, is responsible for managing
  and protecting the Orange County groundwater basin

• OCWD encompasses 229,000 acres (925 km2) in the
  lower watershed of the Santa Ana River (SAR)

• Orange County groundwater basin provides water
  for over 2.4 million people

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Orange Countys Water

• Northern and central Orange County receives 62
  of its water supply from a large groundwater
  basin managed by the Orange County Water District
• South of the city of Irvine, Orange County is 95
  dependent on imported water from Northern
  California and the Colorado River

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Seawater Barrier

• OCWDs basin is hydraulically connected to the
  ocean
• OCWD has purified sewer water to drinking water
  standards and injected it into a pressurized
  underground sea water barrier since the 1970s
• Seawater began to go around the barrier
  protecting the groundwater
• Eight new injection wells were needed to
  increase barrier injection from 15 to 35 million
  gallons per day to protect groundwater

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Seawater Intrusion
Desired Seawater Holding Point
Production Wells
Injection Wells
Pacific Ocean
Talbert
Talbert Aquifer
Alpha
Beta
Lambda
Main Aquifer
Current Extent of Seawater
Intrusion
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The Two Agencies

• Orange County Water District Provides local
  water retailers with a reliable, adequate,
  high-quality groundwater supply at the lowest
  reasonable cost in an environmentally responsible
  manner
• Orange County Sanitation District Protects public
  health and the environment by providing effective
  wastewater collection, treatment, and recycling

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Long History Of Partnership

• Orange County Water District (OCWD) Orange
  County Sanitation District (OCSD)
• Both serve the same 2.4 million residents plus
  businesses and industries in northern and central
  Orange County
• Came together on Water Factory 21 in 1975
• OCSD contributed half the capital cost to the
  Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) to avoid
  building an additional ocean outfall
• Finished as a dedicated team on the GWRS

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Why Do We Need The GWRS?

• Extended drought
• Imported water shortages
• Colorado River losses
• State Water Project losses
• Environmental restrictions
• Potential levee failures
• Local Projects lessen dependency on outside
  sources

San Luis Reservoir before and now. Gov.
Schwarzenegger declares emergency
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What Is The GWRS?

• New 70 MGD (265,000 m3/day) advanced water
  purification facility
• Takes sewer water that otherwise would be wasted
  to the ocean, purifies it to near distilled
  quality and then recharges it into the
  groundwater basin
• Provides a new 72,000 acre-feet (88,000,000 m3)
  per year source of water, which is enough water
  for over 500,000 people
• Operational since January 2008

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Microfiltration System

• 86 MGD (325,500 m3/day) Siemens CMF-S
  Microfiltration System
• Tiny, straw like hollow fiber polypropylene
  membrane
• Removes bacteria, protozoa, and suspended solids
• 0.2 micron pore size
• In basin submersible system

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Reverse Osmosis System

• 70 MGD (265,000 m3/day) Reverse Osmosis System
• 3 stage 78-48-24 array
• Hydranautics ESPA-2 Membranes
• Recovery Rate 85
• Removes dissolved minerals, viruses, and organic
  compounds (incl. pharmaceuticals)
• Pressure range 150 200 psi

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Direct Photolysis/Advanced Oxidation

• 70 MGD (265,000 m3/day) Trojan UVPhox System
• Low Pressure High Output lamp system
• Destroys trace organics
• Uses Hydrogen Peroxide to create an Advanced
  Oxidation Process
• After treatment, water is so pure we need to add
  minerals back - lime

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Regulatory Oversight

• Regional Water Quality Control Board issues
  permits for recycling
• CA Department of Public Health regulates drinking
  water and establishes reclamation criteria
• Treatment
• TOC limit
• Travel time
• Blending
• No federal role regulating reuse
• CDPH hearing findings and recommendations
  incorporated into permit by Regional Board

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Independent Advisory Panel

• Appointed by National Water Research Institute
• Leading experts in hydrogeology, chemistry,
  toxicology, microbiology, engineering, public
  health, public communications and

• environmental protection
• Review operations, monitoring and water quality
• Panel makes recommendations to OCWD and
  regulatory agencies to assure quality and
  reliability

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Start-up of the GWRS

• Commissioning began fall 2007
• Injection into seawater intrusion barrier and
  spreading in percolation basins began January
  2008
• Flow limited by available effluent and diurnal
  variability
• Tracer study verified travel time from spreading
  basins to nearest well
• Trickling filter effluent pilot MF study
• Blend 80 activated sludge 20 trickling filter
  effluent, began May 2008

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GWRS Proven Reliability

• California Department of Public Health developed
  permit requirements
• Test for over 200 compounds with all results well
  below permit levels or at non-detection (ND)
  levels
• 28 Volatile Organic Compounds All ND
• 39 Non-Volatile Synthetic Organic Compounds All
  ND
• 8 Disinfection By-Products All ND
• 10 Unregulated Chemicals All but one ND, all
  below permit levels
• 51 Priority Pollutants All ND
• 16 Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and
  Pharmaceuticals All ND

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Keys To Success

• Project meets Orange Countys water needs
• Board of Directors insistence on highest quality
  water (480 million shared capital costs)
• History of successful water reuse in Orange
  County with Water Factory 21 recycling facility
• Groundwater basin provides natural and
  psychological barrier
• Successful outreach from conception of facility,
  to construction and finally commissioning

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Benefits Of GWRS

• Creates a new water supply
• Reuses a wasted resource
• Expands the seawater barrier
• Increases water supply reliability
• Offsets imported water cutbacks
• Costs comparable to imported water
• Saves half the energy over imported water or
  desalinated seawater
• Improves quality of water in the basin

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Public Outreach

• Many projects stopped by public and political
  opposition
• Outreach began early, over 10 years prior to
  start up
• Researched public concerns
• Face to face presentations
• Community leaders
• Measured effects of outreach
• Community support
• Outreach continues today, assisted by media
  interest

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Strong Community Support
Proactive face-to-face outreach with more than
1,200 presentations, 700 tours and many news
stories that resulted in

• No active opposition
• 100 support from cities in OCWD service area
• 100 support from OC State and Federal elected
  officials
• 100 support from Chambers of Commerce OCBC
• Many major businesses, Edison, Semper Energy,
  etc.
• All major environmental groups (Surfriders,
  Coastkeepers)
• Several health experts, medical doctors,
  hospitals,
• pharmacists and scientists supporting
• Several key minority leaders
• Educational, religious, police, fire leaders
• More than 200 community groups like Kiwanis,
  Rotary, etc.
• OC Tax, AARP, OC Farm Bureau others

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What We Learned About Public Perception

• People do not know about water supply needs
• First must explain the need
• Messages must address health and safety
• Orange County citizens want reliability, local
• control, and high quality water
• Women, mothers, minorities, and elderly are
• key audiences
• Face-to-face presentations are best
• Avoid jargon
• Testimonials from outsiders are important
  especially medical/public health
• Reverse osmosis elicits positive response
• Word purified better than reclaimed, reused, etc

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What Have We Learned From GWRS?

• Public can accept indirect potable reuse projects
  if
• need is clear
• outreach is effective and ongoing
• politicians and community leaders make commitment
• quality is higher than alternatives
• regulators have ongoing oversight
• independent scientific review
• The more people know about GWRS the more they
  accept it

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GWRS Aerial View