O.C. Willing to Swallow Water Plan Others Can’t

After years of study, debate and planning, Orange County officials are set to decide this week whether to procede with a $600-million plan to convert sewage into tap water.

The county would join a growing number of communities across California that are trying to reduce their dependency on pricey--and sometimes uncertain--imported water by creating their own supply.

But unlike other places, the seemingly stomach-turning proposal has generated little controversy and, in fact, has broad support from opposing constituencies such as local business groups and environmentalists. In contrast, a $100-million San Diego plan was scuttled because of public outrage.

The boards of the Orange County Sanitation District and the Orange County Water District will vote at a joint meeting Wednesday in Fountain Valley. The proposal appears likely to succeed. Even one critic says “It’s going to be a slam dunk.”

Though critics worry about the price tag, proponents say the project will provide a dependable, safe and local source of drinking water to meet booming population demands.

The sewer and water agencies want to take treated sewage and purify it in Fountain Valley with microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light, creating water that’s cleaner than what most people get out of their faucets now.

Some of the highly treated waste water would be used for the seawater intrusion barrier, which stops saltwater from tainting the ground water, and some for irrigation.

But most of the water would be piped along the Santa Ana River to spreading basins in Anaheim, where it would percolate into a large underground aquifer and mix with ground water. About two years later, the water would be pulled out of the ground, chlorinated and sent to homes and businesses in the water district’s service area in northern and central parts of the county.

This 350-square-mile service area currently has about 2.3 million people and uses about 500,000 acre-feet of water per year. One acre-foot can serve two families of four for one year. About 60% of the current water supply comes from local ground water, while the remaining 40% is imported from the Colorado River and the State Water Project, a massive network that brings water from the north part of the state to the south.

By 2020, northern and central Orange County are expected to grow to 2.8 million people, who will require 180,000 more acre-feet. Without the ground-water replenishment system, this demand increase would mean more expensive imported water.

Some, such as water district General Manager Bill Mills, worry about the future availability of imported water. “We need to secure local reliable water supplies because imported water supplies are threatened” by endangered species issues, drought and future restrictions, he said.

For example, a deal that allows California to continue taking more than its share of Colorado River water will expire in 15 years.

Recycled water has many benefits over imported water, Mills said, noting that the source is growing, drought-proof and local.

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The project is proposed in three phases. The first phase, which would provide 70,000 extra acre-feet per year by 2004, is estimated to cost $352 million. Planners have secured about $57 million in grants, including $37 million from the water bond passed by California voters in 2000. The water district and the sanitation district will split the remaining cost. About 60 cents of the average monthly water bill will pay for phase one.

The sanitation district, however, will benefit monetarily. If the ground-water replenishment system is approved, it will be able to defer plans to build a $170-million ocean outfall to send sewage from the impending population growth to the ocean.

“It’s definitely a benefit to the Orange County Sanitation District and our customers,” Lawson said.

But critics wonder if the same can be said for the water district.

“I have serious concerns,” said water district board member Wes Bannister. “How can the Orange County Water District, which currently has a debt service of about $20 million a year, which is roughly half of our budget--how can we take on a $150-million project?”

“For the sanitation district, it’s no problem--they avoid building an outfall,” he said. “There’s no offset for us.”

Bannister said the proposal would push water production cost to $420 to $550 per acre-foot, and that the district currently buys imported water to replenish ground water from the Metropolitan Water District for $232 per acre-foot. Bannister added that MWD says it has adequate supplies to guarantee water through 2016.

But Mills said he has not seen any written guarantee of water through 2016. And future limitations could push imported water costs higher, he said.

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Recycled water is used across the nation for various purposes, from making newsprint to watering freeway landscaping to making snow for ski slopes.

In 2000, the State Water Resources Control Board estimated that 401,910 acre-feet of reclaimed water was used in the California. Nearly half is used to water crops.

In parts of Los Angeles County, the ground water has been recharged for decades using treated waste water. Still, some recent plans to turn sewage into drinking water met considerable opposition.

In 1996, a plan to use treated waste water to replenish a San Gabriel Valley aquifer had to be halved--and avoid a Miller Brewing Co. plant--to move forward.

A $100-million proposal in San Diego was scuttled because of public resistance to drinking purified human waste.

Orange County’s ground-water replenishment proposal has largely been spared criticism about the safety--or even the aesthetics--of drinking highly treated sewage.

“We haven’t had a lot of problems with the yuck factor,” Lawson said. “We seem to have a more educated audience than other areas. They understand that there is no new water--the water cycle is one that recycles water.”

“If people are saying, ‘Eww, I’m drinking treated waste water with this project,’ they need to do a little bit of research and find out what they’re drinking right now without the project,” she added.

Since 1975, the sanitation district has used highly treated sewage in its seawater intrusion barrier, and it eventually mixes into the ground water. Additionally, the water district’s aquifer is recharged by the Santa Ana River. About 80% of the river’s flow is highly treated sewage from inland communities, including Riverside, San Bernardino, Ontario and Chino, Mills said.

Even critic Bannister would not fault the project on these grounds: “That’s the wrong approach. We’re drinking it right now and have been ever since we started drinking water in Orange County.”

The project uses more advanced purification technology than that seen in previous projects, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by local officials and activists.

Several state and federal agencies will have to make sure the project won’t damage the environment or be dangerous to public health. Once the project is completed, the water will be monitored by computer 24 hours a day.

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Sewage to Beverage

Orange County’s water and sanitation district boards will vote Wednesday on a plan that would treat waste water and turn it into drinking water. The reclaimed water could supply 800,000 people in north and central Orange County. How it works: