The Interim Water Purification plant's water will be blended each day with about 13 million gallons of imported water. By mid-July, an additional five million gallons of imported water will be added.  In addition, one million gallons of deep well water will be injected to maintain the seawater barrier.  The seawater barrier is a series of injection wells that build an underground mound of water along the coast, higher than sea level, to keep salt water out of our fresh water groundwater basin.

The interim facility is a smaller scale version of the future GWR System facility currently under construction.  Both facilities take highly treated sewer water that is currently released into the ocean and purify it to better than bottle water purity.  The facilities use the same membrane technologies that purify baby food, fruit juices, beer, wine, medicines and bottled water. The GWR System will create a new supply of extremely high-quality water for use in a larger seawater intrusion barrier and to augment groundwater supplies for North and Central Orange County residents.  

OCWD has been protecting Orange County's underground basin from ocean intrusion for the past 25 years by purifying sewer water to drinking water standards and injecting it into the groundwater basin to keep seawater from intruding into the groundwater basin.  Until this year, water for the seawater barrier was made by Water Factory 21, one of the nation's pioneer water purification facilities.  Water Factory 21 will be demolished this summer to make room for the new GWR System.

Water produced by the Interim Water Purification Facility is near-distilled water quality.  It is purified using a redundant high-tech water purification system that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide.  Microfiltration technology is a new purification technology for OCWD. 

"This is an important day in Orange County's water history," said Denis Bilodeau, president of the Orange County Water District Board of Directors.   "Water produced by the Interim Water Purification Facility will mimic water produced in 2007 when the permanent advanced water purification facility is complete.  Water produced by this project will surpass all state and federal drinking water standards."

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Santa Ana Region, recently approved OCWD's permit for water from the Interim Water Purification Facility to be used for the seawater intrusion barrier. Earlier this month, the California Department of Health Services certified the ultraviolet light system as an appropriate technology for disinfection and to provide an additional barrier to unwanted contaminants.