Sewer water, the untapped resource

Alicia Robinson

Despite the threat of flooding from recent rainstorms, Orange County

is facing a water shortage in future years.

The Orange County Water District hopes to avert water shortages

during future droughts with a $487-million project now underway to

turn waste water into household water, and Newport-Mesa customers

will be drinking the results by 2007.

About half of Orange County’s water is imported, some from the

Colorado River, and federal officials have said they’ll cut local

flows from the Colorado River by 2016, water district communications

director Ron Wildermuth said. Also, the county’s population will

continue to grow, placing further demand on water supplies.

“Basically what’s happening is we’re going to purify sewer water

that currently goes into the ocean after the sanitation district has

processed it,” he said. “We’re going to take it and run it through

three treatment processes: microfiltration, reverse osmosis ... and

then we’re adding an additional step of ultraviolet light and

hydrogen peroxide.”

Most bottled water is only treated with the first two processes,

he said. After it’s treated, some of the water will be injected into

underground wells that form a barrier to keep seawater out of the

county’s groundwater basin. The rest will be piped to Anaheim to

trickle through a natural filtration system and into the basin.

Wildermuth will discuss the system at a public meeting tonight in

Newport Beach.

The groundwater replenishment system will produce enough household

water for 144,000 families each year. Some of that water will go to

Newport Beach, which gets 62% of its water from the groundwater

basin, Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said.

“The basin’s important because it’s a cost-effective way of

getting our water,” he said. “We’re big supporters of the overall

project because it’s important to have this as a water source now and

10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now.”

After more than 10 years of planning, the groundwater project got

underway in 2004. Wells for the seawater barrier are being built, a

new treatment facility is being constructed in Fountain Valley, and a

13-mile pipeline will be built from the treatment plant to Anaheim.

The system will be fully functioning in 2007.

Environmental groups are often wary of major construction

projects, but they’ve largely jumped on the bandwagon here because

the project not only recycles water, but it will put off the need for

another ocean outfall pipe. An outfall pipe discharges treated waste

water a few miles off the coast.

The Orange County Sanitation District now pipes about 240 million

gallons a day into the ocean off Huntington Beach, said Garry Brown,

executive director of water-quality watchdog group Orange County

CoastKeeper. Brown also serves on an advisory committee for the

groundwater project.

A large amount of development in recent years has depleted the

county’s natural aquifer more than people realized, and the new

groundwater system will combat that, Brown said.

“We can’t just rely on the natural processes to replenish that,”

he said. “Why don’t we take the water we’re discharging in the ocean

every day and clean it and reuse it?”

The idea of using treated waste water for household needs may

cause customers to wrinkle their noses. But Los Angeles County has

been treating waste water for household use for 30 years, Wildermuth

said.

It’s at least as clean as bottled water, and it’s cheaper than

buying imported water or desalinating ocean water, Wildermuth said.

Customers have seen an increase of between 50 cents and 70 cents a

month on their water bills because of the project.

“Once they understand [the potential for a water shortage] and

they understand the quality of the water, they say, ‘Good idea,’” he

said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.