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MICROFILTRATION EQUIPMENT
PURCHASE FOR ORANGE COUNTY WATER AND
SANITATION DISTRICT GROUNDWATER REPLENISHMENT SYSTEM PROJECT
COMES IN UNDER BUDGET
Microfiltration to cost $5 million
less than projected
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. –
A contract to provide microfiltration equipment for the Groundwater
Replenishment (GWR) System came in under budget by 16 percent,
a savings of more than $5 million, it was announced. The winning
proposal was submitted by USFilter for $27,327,808. The budget
estimate was $32.5 million. The GWR System is a major, innovative
water purification project jointly sponsored by the Orange County
Water District and Orange County Sanitation District.
Microfiltration is a membrane technology using membranes shaped
like hollow straws with microscopic pores in the sides. Water
is forced through the microscopic holes and the filtered water
goes down the center of the membrane. The microscopic holes, or
pores, in the sides of the membranes screen out minute particles,
bacteria and some viruses. Microfiltration is an excellent pretreatment
for reverse osmosis—the next step in the water purification
process that also includes ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide
treatment.
Microfiltration is used to purify food products, such as fruit
juices and baby foods, and to sterilize medicines that cannot
be heated. USFilter will provide microfiltration equipment for
the GWR System plant. This will be the largest use of microfiltration—in
one plant—in the world, making Orange County Water District
a world leader in water purification.
Once completed, the GWR System will provide a new source of drinking
water for north and central Orange County residents beginning
in 2006. The System will take already highly-treated sewer water
from the Orange County Sanitation District, currently sent to
the ocean, and purify it to meet and surpass drinking water standards.
Using water-purification membrane technology, the GWR System will
purify the sewer water with reverse osmosis—a purification
system used by many bottled water companies—microfiltration
and ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide treatment technologies.
The result will be extremely high-quality water. About one-half
of the water will be injected underground near the coast to keep
seawater from contaminating the fresh water in the Orange County
underground basin.
The other half of the water will be transported through a 13-mile
pipeline to a percolation pond in northern Orange County. There
the water will be filtered again, like rain water, as it seeps
into the ground and enters Orange County’s deep aquifers
to become part of the future supply of drinking water. The groundwater
basin is the main source of water for 2.3 million residents of
Orange County.
Future construction on the GWR System includes demolition of
the existing world-famous Water Factory 21 water purification
facility in Fountain Valley; construction of the new water purification
facility; drilling new injection wells and construction of a pump
station and the 13-mile pipeline to Orange County Water District’s
groundwater basin recharge facilities.
For more information on the Groundwater Replenishment System,
visit here....
Orange County Water District is a special
district that was created by the California State Legislature
in 1933 to maintain and manage the groundwater basin under northern
and central Orange County. OCWD’s groundwater basin supplies
75% of the water needs in Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress,
Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine,
La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa
Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and
Yorba Linda.
Orange County Sanitation District is the third
largest wastewater treatment system west of the Mississippi River,
serving 2.2 million residents in northern and central Orange County.
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