Rancho California Water District (Rancho Water/District) in Temecula, California has been investigating options for a groundwater injection indirect potable reuse (IPR) project to provide a locally controlled, drought-resistant supply that decreases salt loading to the groundwater basin. The largest hurdle for this inland water agency is the disposal of reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate. An earlier study had concluded that ocean discharge via a 15-mile brine line to another agency would be prohibitively expensive at $30M. To overcome the costs and environmental and jurisdictional impacts of the brine line, the District pivoted to disposal at brine ponds on 20 acres available at the Santa Rosa Water Reclamation facility. This current study further developed the technical approach by investigating the benefits of using high recovery RO and technologies that can enhance evaporation from the brine ponds to reduce pond size and provide the opportunity to consider a larger capacity advanced water treatment facility (AWTF). Non-economic criteria were used to screen high-recovery RO alternatives and rank enhanced evaporation technologies before economic analyses were performed to compare the lifecycle costs of these options. The preferred high-recovery RO and enhanced evaporation pond technologies were controlled-scaling RO and ECOVAP, respectively. Combining these technologies would shrink the conventional brine ponds from 17 acres to 1.5 acres. The reduced brine pond footprint has provided the District the flexibility to consider implementing a 2.0 mgd AWTF with a water cost of $2600/acre-foot, compared to $4800/acre-foot for a 0.5 mgd AWTF.
This presentation is available to AMTA Members only.
Speaker
- Fred Gerringer
Company
- Hazen and Sawyer
Event
- AMTA/AWWA Membrane Technology Conference, Las Vegas
Session
- AMTA/AWWA Membrane Technology Conference
Date
- 02/22/22
Media
Keywords
- Brine Minimization, Potable Reuse, Reverse Osmsis
Reference
- 9715-DP2756