A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday for a project that will more than double the amount of water produced at a recycled water treatment plant at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.
The Terminal Island Advanced Water Purification Facility will undergo upgrades to allow 12 million gallons of recycled water to be purified at the plant, once construction is completed in 2017.
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California will inject the advanced treated water into the Dominguez Gap Barrier to prevent seawater from intruding on the local groundwater supply, Sanitation Bureau Executive Director Enrique Zaldivar said.
The water will also be used by industrial customers in the harbor area, he said.
The plant uses microfiltration, reverse osmosis, stabilization and disinfection processes, according to Zaldivar.
The Public Works Department awarded a contract to Evoqua Water Technologies to provide microfiltration services.
Mayor Eric Garcetti said the plant is part of “aggressive water conservation” efforts and will help the city “tackle our drought head-on.”
“We must rethink our relationship with water by both reducing water use and increasing water recycling,” he said. “I’m going to make sure the city takes action, but we’re all in this together.”
The mayor set a goal last year of reducing water use 20 percent by 2017 and raised a rebate for replacing grass turf to $3.75 per square foot.
— City News Service