There was a water main break Monday morning in an 8″ pipeline connection to a larger 54″ line sending a tall geyser rising into the air. Some reporters quickly dubbed it “Old Faithful of the Valley.” The LADWP quickly closed off the line.
The agency describes it as a purple pipe carrying recycled water. The water is required to meet California Title 22 water quality standards for health and safety but is not used for drinking water. No one was hurt.
It’s likely the recycled water is from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant just across the 405-freeway. The facility recycles roughly 26-million gallons every day.
A Long Beach wastewater recycling project will receive Federal funding as part of legislation the Senate passed last week. The 2010 fiscal year Energy and Water Appropriations Conference Report includes $634,000 for the project.
“We will also be able to continue to expand the city’s use of recycled water, which reduces our consumption of potable water, and makes Long Beach less dependent on outside sources of water, which as everyone knows are becoming more and more unreliable.” Matthew Veeh, LB Water spokesman.
Speakers Tim Haug, Deputy City Engineer for Los Angeles and Rich Atwater General Manager of the Inland Empire Utilities Agency.
By Wendy Wert
LABS Director
CWEA Chair, Training Coordination
On September 24, 2009 the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (AAEE) hosted a dinner and networking seminar at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). Participants were enlightened, inspired, and entertained. The “Sustainable Wastewater Operations” topic drew attendees from a broad spectrum of the environmental profession, including: professors, researchers, managers, practitioners, technicians, advocates, manufacturers, vendors and students. The evening began with a stimulating networking session on the breezeway of LMU’s University Center. Participants then dined in the MacIntosh Room where they engaged in discussions of resource recovery alternatives from individual experiences. In addition to the sponsored students, two LMU engineering classes joined attendees in the Ahmanson Auditorium for the presentation portion of the event.
City of Los Angeles Terminal Island Renewable Energy demonstration project near the Port of LA (credit: City of LA).
The City’s innovative biosolids-to-energy project at the Terminal Island Water Reclamation Plant has received stimulus funding from the Department of Energy to continue work on the biosolids injection and energy recovery project. Funds will be used to expand the facility as well as drill the third well on the site. Biosolids are injected into deep underground former oil deposits where geothermal energy and pressure heats the biosolids and converts them to biogas.
The biogas generated by the heated biosolids is recovered and used to run a turbine which can power up to 3,000 Los Angeles homes according to the City. Deep well injection also sequesters the carbon and reduces the number of daily truck trips needed to haul biosolids from the City’s coastal wastewater treatment plants to distant farm lands where they are safely used as fertilizer. the T.I.R.E. is the first project of its kind in the nation.
We are honored to have the Terminal Island Renewable Energy project selected for this research grant. TIRE is already at the forefront of technology, and we look forward to seeing how the results of this additional research can help us achieve our mission of protecting public health and the environment,” said Enrique C. Zaldivar, Director, Bureau of Sanitation
Read the City of LA press release here.
LABS hosted a dinner presentation by City of LA Project Manager Omar Moghaddam, that story is here.
Cheers West Basin!
On Wednesday Sept. 9th over 60 professionals from LABS and SARBS took a guided tour of the West Basin Municipal Water District’s water recycling facility in El Segundo.
West Basin’s Manager of Public & Gov’t Affairs Ron Wildermuth gave an enlightening talk on SoCal’s dire water situation and what West Basin is doing to secure more local supplies for their customers. Their plan, called Water Reliability 2020 involves several different projects to diversive the region’s water supplies and move away from dependence on expensive and dwindling imported supplies. One of West Basin’s main messages is – spread the word about water efficiency in your community, Southern California needs public support for clean water projects now more than ever.
Public tours of the Edward C. Little Water Reclamation Facility are offered the second Saturday of each month at 9:30am – it is a fantastic tour and well worth taking. Contact info is on West Basin’s website at www.westbasin.com.
H. David Nahai, CEO of LADWP
Sunday’s Times profiles H. David Nahai, the General Manager of the Department of Water & Power. From lawyer to environmental activist to DWP commissioner and now leader of the DWP, Nahai has been involved in the inner workings of Los Angeles for over three decades.
Nahai is trying to get the city off coal energy and into reclaiming more wastewater…
We have to recognize that our external water sources are not going to expand, while our city is going to expand, so we have to look for new sources of water.
The LA Times reports Assembly members passed AB 1366 late last night. The bill by Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) will give local governments the flexibility to ban residential water softeners – the salt dumped into the wastewater collection system can lead to problems removing chloride and other expensive problems at wastewater and water reuse treatment plants.
The bill still must pass the Senate and be signed by the Govenor (who, according to media reports, is threatening to veto all legislation unless fiscal issues such as prisons are taken care of).
The Santa Clarita Valley has removed many of the residential salt based water softners thanks to programs and partnerships implemented by the Santa Clarita Valley Sanitation District (part of LACSD) which has led to improved water quality. (credit: LABS archive)
In an opinion piece in the Inland Empire Daily Bulletin, Inland Empire Utilities Agency head Richard Atwater says Assembly bill 1366 (Feuer/Caballero/A. Strickland) deserves support since it’s the right thing to do for the environment and local economies.
The legislation will allow communities and public agencies to regulate salt based water softeners – the devises pour tons of salt into the wastewater system where it’s difficult and expensive to remove. Atwater writes…
With the state now predicting dramatic reductions in California’s future water supplies due to problems in the Delta and climate change, we must take action to protect the water supplies we have. This means we need to support the passage of AB 1366 and start using non-salt-based water softening devices.
Atwater is a featured speaker at AAEE’s Sept. 24th dinner meeting – details here.
LABS has several stories on Santa Clarita Valley chloride – find them here.
(hat tip: Victor Santa Cruz)
The Sunday SGV Tribune editorial says Los Angeles County must move on from our temporary “drought” mentality and prepare for a future where we use less water.
Adapting to a dehydrated future will require more substantial lifestyle changes and investments – in landscaping, home appliances, community design and water-saving technology. And cities and states need to move quicker on adopting and encouraging creative water usage – and reusage. The first step is to retire the word “drought.” The sooner California stops treating the water shortage as a temporary situation, the sooner California will be come up with the solutions needed to keep hydrated.
The Housing and Community Development agency has released new rules last week relaxing the requirements for gray water recycling for residential homes. Washing machine water and other “gray” water can be reused on landscape trees and shrubs.
Some basic guidelines from the San Diego Union-Tribune…
New state rules provide permit exemptions for some residential gray-water systems, but people still have to follow several requirements. Including:
• The system must allow users to direct water to an irrigation field or the sewer.
• Ponding and gray-water runoff are prohibited.
• Gray water can be released above ground, but the discharge point must be covered by at least 2 inches of mulch, rock or other material that minimizes human contact.
• Water used to wash diapers or other soiled garments must be sent to the sewer.
• Gray water shouldn’t be used on root vegetables.
Continue reading the Tribune article, go>
Calif. Dept. of Housing and Community Development emergency rules, go>
The EPA released an updated list of the top 20 on-site power producers in the U.S. – paper company Kimberly Clark was number one producing 192,730,000 kW.
Second, and top public agency, is the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts producing 171,144,000 kW – providing for 50% of the agency’s power needs at its multiple facilities.
Now that’s some powerful energy recycling!
There’s a nice summary of LACSD power generating systems on the SCAP website.
The video above is Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary, announcing one-hundred million in stimulus funding for water recycling projects- mostly California water projects. The Bureau of Reclamation was given over $1-billion as part of the Stimulus package in order to ensure clean, secure water in all states.
The list of Bureau of Reclamation funded projects is here.
Attendees with featured Speaker Dave Snyder at the Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced Water Treatment Facility (credit: Wendy Wert, LABS)
By Wendy Wert
LABS Director, CWEA
On July 22, 2009 the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) hosted a tour of the Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced Water Treatment Facility (AWTF), which provides advanced treatment (microfiltration and reverse osmosis) to effluent from the Long Beach Water Reclamation Plant (WRP). The Long Beach WRP is owned and operated by the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (CSDLAC). Representatives from both agencies explained their unique partnership that is responsible for advancing responsible, local management of water resources by increasing opportunities for water reuse.
Dave Snyder of the Districts began the tour with a brief overview of the Long Beach WRP. The 25 million gallon per day (mgd) Long Beach Water Reclamation Plant began operation in 1973 and serves a population of approximately 250,000 people. Almost 5 mgd of the treated effluent is reused at over 40 sites, this includes landscape irrigation of schools golf courses, parks, and green belts and the re-pressurization of oil-bearing strata.
The Inland Empire Utilities Agency sure thinks water recycling is the wave of the future. The LA Times today has a nice profile of the Agency leader and Board Member who make unlikely allies and how they’re securing local water supplies for their customers…
“We’re going to have to live within our means. Do you really want to wait until we all go over a cliff?” – Richard Atwater, chief executive of the IEUA.
“I’m not going to say it would be easy, or could be done overnight or would be cheap. There are all these great opportunities. . . . The water solution of the next 100 years will be different from the water solution of the past 100 years.” - Gregory Freeman, VP, LA County Economic Development Corp.
The LA Times reports the state Building Standard’s Commission may approve emergency language by August 4th allowing grey water discharge from one clothes washer or one plumbing fixture.
The State has 12 guidelines homeowners must follow if they discharge their clothes washer into their garden, but no building permit is needed they say. It’s unclear if health, building and sanitation agencies agree with or allow this method of water reuse. Proposed guidelines include:
4) The gray water shall be contained on the site where it is generated.
5) Gray water shall be directed to and contained within an irrigation or disposal field.
6) Ponding or runoff is prohibited and shall be considered a nuisance.
9) Water used to wash diapers or similarly soiled or infectious garments shall not be used and shall be diverted to the building sewer.
10) Gray water shall not contain hazardous chemicals derived from activities such as cleaning car parts, washing greasy or oily rags, or disposing of waste solutions from home photo labs or similar hobbyist or home occupational activities.
Building Standard’s Commission Proposed Code
The Army Corp of Engineers announced this week several local stimulus projects including allocating $5.1-million to the expansion of West Basin’s water reclamation facility (known as the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility).
Funding will go towards an on-going expansion, additional pipelines and a new pumping station. The plan is to double reclaimed water by 2020 according to the District.
The Whittier Daily News has a story about San Gabriel Valley officials looking to reuse more water locally rather than sending it out to the ocean.
“It is a resource we have and we have paid for it – we paid to treat the water,” said Azusa City Councilman Keith Hanks, a civil engineer for Los Angeles’ Public Works Department. “We have to use it to our advantage as much as we can.”
Also – they did a nice photo gallery of LACSD’s San Jose Creek WRP.
There’s not enough water so something has to give – should it be the fish, the farmers or us? San Gabriel Valley Tribune columnist Thomas Elias argues this is a manmade drought – the Delta has enough water but the Courts ordered the Delta pumps stopped until US Fish & Wildlife Service developed a plan to save the Delta Smelt.
The new Fish and Wildlife regulations will stop the pumps even longer times than (Judge Oliver) Wanger’s order. The idea is to idle them during the entire smelt spawning season, essentially from January to June.
So supplies will be low for farms and cities this spring and summer.
Continue reading ‘Is the drought a man-made one?’
Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water, according to a survey by California Academy of Sciences and conducted by Harris Interactive®. Science Daily has the story…
Try the survey yourself, click read more…
Reuters continues their in-depth look at the water crisis in the west…
“We can solve most, if not all, of the world’s biggest water problems with technology that exists today,” said Stephan Dolezalek, who leads the clean-energy practice of Silicon Valley venture capital firm VantagePoint Venture Partners. “What we may not have is the willpower.”
