Vying with OCWD’s GWRS for the title of California’s premier water recycling facility, is the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility . Built by the West Basin Municipal Water District in 1995, it has been expanded on three occasions and now is capable of advanced cleaning technologies, micro-filtration, and reverse osmosis . WBMWD received state and federal funding to design and build the 30 million gallon a day treatment facility in the City of El Segundo, south of Los Angeles. The ELWRF is the only water recycling facility in the world that produces five different types or qualities of waters to meet the needs of its customers, from basic irrigation water, to ultra-pure high pressure boiler feed water, to purified water that is injected into the west coast groundwater injection barrier . The facility also has a 60,000 square foot solar power generating system to offset energy production. It currently has over 350 industrial customers for its recycled water and is once again under expansion. Like Factory 21 and GWRS, the facility conducts basic water treatment and technology research . California’s water recycling regulations are spread out among several legal entities – the California Code of Regulations,bato bucket the Water Code, and the Health and Safety Code .
The Federal government’s EPA treats reused water just like water. It has guidelines for water reuse with criteria and design considerations but leaves implementation to the the states . The California water recycling program is the shared responsibility of the California Department of Health Services , under the direction of the California Environmental Protection Agency , and State Water Resources Control Board . The DHS is responsible for establishing criteria that ensures recycled water maintains water quality and protects public health. The SWRCB has water allocation and quality protection authority over all States water resources. The DHS works with the SWRCB—and the nine Regional Water Control Boards— in the drafting of permits and management of contamination . The SWRCB also provides financial assistance for both the planning and construction of water reuse projects. Some funds are also available through the DWR and DHS. The Water Recycling Facilities Planning Grant Program provides up to $75,000 in grants to local agencies for reuse feasibility studies. The Water Recycling Construction Program provides low-interest grants and loans for construction and development. Since the late-1970s, the program has distributed close to $151 million in planning and construction grants and approximately $611 million in low-interest loans for water reuse projects . As pointed out in the discussion of California water market drivers, water reuse has become a cost effective new source of water.
In 2005, California’s Recycled Water Task Force found that the costs of reclaimed water, including the annualized capital and operational costs, would range from $0 to $2000 per acre-foot, but averaged approximately $600 per acre-foot . Operation and maintenance costs alone were also found to vary, with an average projection to be $300 per acre-foot. At the time, this cost was perceived to be very high—MWD water often sold for less then $300 an acre-foot . These costs, however, compared favorably with the costs of other options to increase the water supply, such as reservoirs or desalination plants.. Water reuse has always been controversial. Quite simply, people do not like the idea of drinking sewage. One water manager I interviewed privately disclosed their personal distaste for reused water—even for landscaping purposes. This person trusted the science completely and understood—they simply could not get past the grossness of the idea. Psychologists refer to this phenomenon as “psychological contagion,” essentially the idea that once two entities touch they are forever linked . Studies have found that nearly 60% of people refuse to drink water that has been linked with sewage . So it is not surprising that in California, water reuse has often met with fierce public resistance—often organized at the grassroots . The most famous case occurred in the mid 1990s, the city of Los Angeles launched a reuse program specifically to recharge the groundwater basin with tertiary-treated reused water. It was smeared as a “toilet to tap” program. The negative publicity led the city to abandon the groundwater recharge plan and instead marketed the water to irrigation and industrial customers . This hasn’t been all bad for the city though.
Today, the year round water in the Los Angeles River is actually a result of plants discharging treated water originally meant for the groundwater system. Some activists have claimed that the flowing water has greatly contributed to the to the city’s river revitalizations efforts . It should be noted that the Los Angeles County Sanitation Department is still in the reuse businesses and working with various partners have launched the Century and the Rio Hondo Water Reclamation Programs .In addition to the environmental injustices they often endure by virtue of living in poorer—and often industrial— areas. These communities often come with a history of state or societal sanctioned discrimination and may react very strongly to water reuse proposals . Being asked to drink shit is simply one indignity too many. For this reason, many scholars who have looked into the politics of water reuse have recommended that educational campaigns target these groups, rather than the higher educated business leaders who are likely to be easily converted . One could speculate that the fact that the Southern California region that has been the most successful in the implementation of water reuse, Orange County, enjoys a reputation as a relatively wealthy suburb of Los Angeles may have helped facilitate the development of water reuse. Although to be fair,dutch bucket hydroponic today’s Orange County has roughly the same ratio of minorities and is only a little wealthier then the state as a whole . The best technique psychologists have found to cognitively cleanse the dirty reused water is to “cognitively co-mingle the water with nature” . Indeed, I found this be true with the interviewee that expressed repulsion. The individual was perfectly fine drinking water derived from the Colorado river, despite the fact that it is full of reused water discharged from numerous upstream municipalities. Today reuse projects that augment water supplies create “indirect potable water” that incorporate this psychological technique by piping reused water into lakes or rivers where before being drawn again. For example, Orange County’s GWRS only directly injects half of the water it cleans into the ground, and that is into the saltwater intrusion barrier. The rest is pumped to the Kraemer/Miller recharge basins, essentially large lakes, in Anaheim where it then percolates into the groundwater supply naturally, hence co-mingling with nature. . This strategy requires more land and infrastructure than simply direct groundwater injection—or for that matter, direct potable reuse—and hence results in more expensive projects. It is not only Southern Californians, however, who prefer their reused water to be returned to nature before becoming part of the drinking supply. Globally, only one major city, Windhoek, Namibia practices large scale direct potable reuse . Windhoek happens to be a very poor city located in one of the driest regions of Africa far from sufficient water sources. Another major strategy employed by water reuse advocates is positive marketing campaigns. Burned by pervasive “Toilet to Tap”, media campaigns against reused water utilities have worked hard to brand reused water as a good, “new” source . Like Singapore’s NEW water program, Californian advocates have embraced “new” and “blue” in order to enlist support for recycled water as pure, clean and safe technology. Additionally, campaigns like the New Blue Water Coalition promote educational campaigns filled with associations with safety and scientifically advanced technologies, and environmental protection themes to further reassure the public .
Some water agencies have even cultivated these themes as their personal brand. See for example the logo of OCWD and its partner in the GWRS project, OCSD in figure 5. The two organizations have lead an extensive outreach program in order to build community support for the GWRS. They have given over 1500 Presentations to community groups, organizations, and clubs and conduct daily tours of Water Factory 21, GWRS, and the recharge facilities, . The district also operate an well designed and informative website detailing their project and are happy to send informational packets on demand. OCWD has runs a water education program designed for children and young adults, H20 University . Other local agencies such as WBMWD at the Ed C. Little facility, and LADWP at its Hyperion treatment plant also offer tours and both are very active in working to educate the public OCWD works closely with other water agencies, such as Israel, Singapore, and Australia, in order to exchange knowledge and share best practices . For example the website lists reuse data in both metric and imperial measurement units, as reflects the web traffic it receives from interested people around the world. Water reuse project marketeers throughout the world point to the GWRS as a model. Together,the OCWD team and its global partners are slowly building support for water reuse globally, and consequently building a market for new innovative reuse infrastructure and technologies.Orange County Water District’s Groundwater Replenishment System is one of the most celebrated civil engineering and water reuse projects in the world. The GWRS has received more than 35 local, regional, national, and international awards, including the American Society of Civil Engineers 2009 Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award and the 2008 Stockholm International Industry Water Award . The design and construction of the GWRS was jointly-funded by the Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District who together run an extensive ongoing public outreach program. Notable for a drinking water reuse project, the project went forward without any major opposition. Large businesses such as Sempra Energy, environmental groups like Surfriders and Coast keepers, community groups such as Kiwanis and Rotary, all voiced support for the project . Several key minority leaders were also strong proponents of the project, most notably Hispanic Congresswoman, Loretta Sanchez. Elected in 1997, Ms. Sanchez has also been instrumental in steering federal support—and dollars—towards GWRS. Most recently, she authorized H.R. 383, which was included in the 2009 Omnibus spending bill. The bill increased federal support of the project by $6 million . The GWRS was designed to produce 70 million gallons of recycled water per day, or a total production of 23.5 billion gallons per year . Today, the project is once again under construction and is being expanded to 100 million gallons a day. OCWD and OCSD together secured $92 million in state, federal and local grants to help fund the $481 million project. In addition, the GWRS also receives a $7.5 million annual subsidy for 12 years from the Metropolitan Water District . OCSD and OCWD also agreed to share the cost to construct the GWRS. OCWD consented to manage and fund the operations of the facility into the future. The annual operating budget for GWRS is approximately $34 million, which includes electricity, chemicals, labor, and maintenance. The replenished water is affordable and even without outside funding the cost of water would still be approximately $800 AF—very close to the 2012 price of tier-1 treated water charged by the MWD . Orange County Water District is a special district formed in 1933 to protect Orange County’s rights to Santa Ana River water and to manage the large groundwater basin that underlies much of Orange County . OCWD encompasses 229,000 acres in the lower watershed of the Santa Ana River. The Orange County groundwater basin provides water for over 2.3 million people. OCWD is governed by a 25-member board of directors comprised of representatives of local agencies and cities within its 470-square-mile service area . OCWD receives revenue from assessments paid by the groundwater basin pumpers, a percentage of the local property taxes, and from investments. Each day, OCSD treats approximately 220 million gallons of water—70% of which is groundwater —with the remainder imported from MWD. Northern and central Orange County receive the majority of their water supply from large groundwater basin managed by the Orange County Water District, while areas to the south are more dependent on imported water from Northern California and the Colorado River.