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GROUNDWATER REPLENISHMENT SYSTEM
RECEIVES AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
Orange County chapter
of Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors
recognizes project with top honor
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.
– The Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System, a new water
project for Orange County, received the “2003 Award of Excellence”
from the Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California,
Orange County chapter (CELSOC). The “Engineering Excellence
Awards,” presented annually by CELSOC, recognize exceptional
projects, as well as the organizations and individuals who have
helped bring them to fruition.
This is the third award the project has received, including the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2002 Environmental
Achievement Award and the “1998 Planned Project of the Year”
presented by the WateReuse Association of California. The Groundwater
Replenishment System is being jointly planned and built by the
Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation
District.
The GWR System will produce water similar in quality to bottled
water, by taking highly treated sewer water that is currently
released into the ocean, and purifying it through microfiltration,
reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide advanced
oxidation treatment. The purified water will become part of a
seawater barrier and be pumped through a 13-mile pipeline to percolation
ponds in Anaheim where it will seep into deep aquifers and blend
with Orange County’s other sources of groundwater, following
the same natural filtering path rainwater takes through the ground.
“We are extremely pleased to have the GWR System recognized
by our peers for its technical superiority and ability to produce
the highest quality water available,” said Virginia Grebbien,
General Manager for the Orange County Water District.
Once completed in 2007, the GWR System will produce 72,000 acre-feet
(or 23.4 billion gallons) of purified water annually – enough
water to serve 140,000 Orange County families.
The project will help meet future predicted water shortages in
Orange County. It will also help reduce the mineral content of
Orange County’s groundwater and prevent ocean water from
contaminating the large groundwater basin. Additionally, it will
provide water during droughts, a reoccurring event in Southern
California.
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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