district is using the facility to evaluate the possibility of using highly
purified water for potable reuse.
Value Beyond Dollars
The value of the SVAWPC exceeds the price retailers and end users
pay for the purified water. It helps facilitate a shift away from imported
water supplies. It decreases the region's dependence on the Sacramento-
San Joaquin Delta, improving the resiliency of the region's water system.
And it helps motivate water users to switch their industrial, landscaping,
and agricultural demands from potable to recycled water. The expand-
able facility also lessens discharges of treated effluent into San Francisco
Bay, which helps preserve the tidal habitat.
In its first year of operation, the facility has consistently met and
exceeded the design goals for finished water quality. Changes in the
influent water quality required adoption of additional operational
strategies to minimize impacts to the treatment process and finished
water-quality goals. The discharge of the brine from the RO system
to the regional facility's chlorine-contact basin has been optimized for
improved performance of the treatment process. The SVAWPC pro-
vides broad reuse opportunities that add resiliency to a system impacted
by severe drought. n
22
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n
Water Innovations
WATERREUSE
UV disinfection represents the final stage of
treatment before storage and blending with
existing supplies.
Photo Credit: Black & Veatch
Sanjay Reddy is a project director in the Walnut Creek, CA, office of Black
& Veatch. Jim Fiedler is chief operating officer, and Hossein Ashktorab
is recycled water unit manager for the Santa Clara Valley Water District
in San Jose, CA. Jim Clark is a senior vice president for Black & Veatch
based in Los Angeles. All authors have extensive experience with water
management, especially water resource recovery and reuse.
About The Authors
Reddy Fiedler Ashktorab Clark