ORANGE COUNTY SANITATION DISTRICT
Planning and Innovating for the Future of Water Conservation
OCSD – Orange County Sanitation District
OCSD – Orange County Sanitation District
Orange County Sanitation District is Planning and Innovating for the Future of Water Conservation Written by: Kristin Craik Produced by: Tom Venturo
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The Orange County Sanitation District is using state-of-the-art facilities and green technology to aid water conservation and provide treated water to the area’s residents
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OCSD – Orange County Sanitation District Planning and Innovating for the Future of Water Conservation
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he Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) provides wastewater management to 2.6 million residents in Orange County, utilizing two treatment plants in Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach supplied by 15 pump stations in a 500-mile collection area. OCSD became an entity in 1954, industrializing during the urbanization of Orange County in the years after World War II. The Company has grown to encompass a larger customer base since then,
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now collecting wastewater from 21 cities and three water and sanitary specialized districts. The Company owns and operates both treatment plants and works in conjunction with small sewerage systems, controlled by local agencies, as well as with the large sewerage systems that OCSD owns and operates. Advisory Board and Management The area which OCSD currently services grew from its Orange Grove origin. The 21 cities and specialized districts the Company serves are governed by a 25-person Board of Directors, with each city and district represented with a vote. The Company oversees two treatment plants, each of which take up approximately 100 acres of physical space. “We’ve been blessed here certainly in the last ten years or so to have great leadership on the Board,” says Jim Ruth, OCSD General Manager. “People with a vision that look toward the future and recognize we need to recycle and continue to invest. We have a Board that has been very proactive and supportive of our staff.
“Staff’s done a great job of looking at those assets, making sure we’re maintaining and operating them properly, replacing them, repairing them in a very aggressive way. We’ve been very blessed to have good leadership at all levels.” Leadership and careful planning is especially important regarding biosolids, which are processed as a result of the wastewater treatment systems. Biosolids are reused as a soil amendment fertilizer which can be composted or applied to nonfood crops on farms. “Quality of our biosolids is really important, and compliance with all of the regulations is important,” says Assistant General Manager Jim Herberg. “We have an environmental management system to provide continuous improvements and audits. It’s actually working very well, and we continue to improve in our audits each year with better and better results.” Physical Growth and Technology Implementation The OCSD is committed – and in many ways, obliged – to undertake continuous improvement strategies that result in growth and facility redesign every few years. Just
finishing the final phase of its facility expansion, the OCSD finished the project ahead of schedule and operations have been running smoothly. Over the 10-year process to bring the facility to its current existence, the project cost $500 million. “The expansion was upgraded to provide secondary treatment water for all of our effluent,” Herberg says. “All of the water from that facility is being recycled by OCSD. From the date we decided to implement the expansion, to the date it started out was about 10 years and a couple of months.” Upgrades occurred at both water treatment facilities. The Huntington Beach location, which discharges to the Pacific Ocean, received upgrades in treatment systems as well. The Huntington Beach location received a trickling filter solids contact, which is extremely energy efficient and is suited for variation between low and peak flows, says Herberg. “The Fountain Valley facility is a biological nitrogen reduction plant,” Herberg says. “It’s a nitrifying plant, which means it removes ammonia and produces much less solids than a conventional activated sludge plant. It produces very clear effluent for the water district and allows 5
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OCSD Supplier Profile
Carollo Engineers Carollo Engineers is an environmental engineering firm that specializes in the planning, design, and construction of water and wastewater facilities. In 2013 we will celebrate our 80th anniversary and our growth from a single office in Phoenix in 1933 to more than 625 people in 34 offices throughout the country. Our staff includes civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, and environmental engineers as well as scientists and planners. Cities and public works agencies of all sizes count on Carollo to help them navigate through the increasingly complex challenges of protecting public health, meeting regulatory requirements, and safeguarding the environment. Our employees take pride in making our communities better places to live, and we continually strive to live up to our mission statement: “Dedicated to creative, responsive, quality solutions to those we serve.” Website: www.carollo.com Visit us online:
them to increase the output of recycled water comparatively to the old systems.” In conjunction with the physical changes to both facilities, OCSD incorporated a highly automated and digitally connected system that decreases energy usage and increases plant efficiency. Partners in Innovation OCSD partners with organizations that help create and customize ideas and advancements in water treatment. The Company partners with iTAG, an international consultant engineer group; WERF, the Water Environment Research Foundation; and the National Water Research Institute (headquartered locally in Fountain Valley). These groups provide perspective and insight on water conservation, sustainability and improvements the OCSD considers. One project in which OCSD has many partners was the development of the first hydrogen fuel cell that operates on the methane gas released from the sewage treatment plant. The fuel cell provides the electricity, heat and hydrogen for a hydrogen vehicle fueling station, Ruth says. “We generate our own power with our own biofuel that we 7
OCSD – Orange County Sanitation District Planning and Innovating for the Future of Water Conservation
generate in our digesters,” Ruth says, estimating at least two-thirds of facility power is generated from the fuel cell. OCSD contributed approximately $500,000 to the fuel cell project, partnering with the Environmental Protection Agency, the University of California Irvine, Air Products and the Air Resources Board. The partnership project cost close to $8 million in total, and OCSD contributed the land for the station in addition to their financial contribution. The Orange County Water District has been a constant partner to OCSD for years, receiving 70 million gallons a day of effluent
from OCSD and further treating it for human consumption with microfiltration, reverse osmosis, advanced oxidation and ultraviolet disinfection. “The biggest benefit of this for our area is sustainability of water supply,” Herberg says. “For us, it meant we didn’t have to construct a new ocean outfall [for disposal of treated water]. Rather than build a bigger pipe to put water into the ocean, we send water to the Water District. They send it through a percolation process in Anaheim, which augments our groundwater basin as well. “They also inject water near the coastline to keep saltwater from
t STATISTICS
Industry: Sanitation coming in and contaminating the drinking water wells. Up to 70 percent of the water we use in Orange County is from our local groundwater supply. Through our partnership with the Orange County Water District, water is produced for 500,000 residents.� The provision of recycled water to residents is a beneficial and integral system within Orange County, and the Company will continue to explore its options for expansion and renovations that keep their facilities ahead of the grade for regulation and using the most efficient and innovative systems possible.
Founded: 1954 Headquarters: Orange County, Ca. Key People/Titles: Jim Ruth, OCSD General Manager Website:
www.ocsd.com
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Orange County Sanitation District 10844 Ellis Avenue Fountain Valley, CA 92708-7018 Tel: 714-962-2411 www.ocsd.com
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