Municipal Water Leader January 2016

January 2016 Volume 2 Issue 1

Growing Water Supplies in the Desert: A Conversation With Dave Luker

The Highest of Standards

By Kris Polly

T

his issue of Municipal Water Leader features Desert Water Agency (DWA) General Manager Dave Luker of Palm Springs, California, on the cover and as our primary interview. I have known Dave for several years and regard him as one of the most accomplished and capable managers I know.

“Every facility we have is ready and in shape to be seen.” That was Dave’s response when I commented on the cleanliness and organization of a pumping plant on one of my earliest visits to DWA. Dave went on to explain that DWA’s previous manager and his former boss, Jack Oberle, had set that standard years ago. “On the rare occasions I do see something out of place, our people get right on it. That is how we do our business,” Dave continued.

I have toured DWA’s facilities many times since then, and I am always impressed by the attention to detail, organization, and exceptional cleanliness of everything.

The control rooms, pumping plants, and agency buildings are meticulously painted and very clean. There are no oil leaks, spare parts, tools, or clutter of any kind lying around.

Walking through the DWA shop area, one observes the labels of various spray cans and other supplies all facing forward and in precise, straight lines. Everything is in its designated space. All the DWA vehicles are in excellent repair, have gleaming paint jobs, and are parked with military precision.

When one comments on such things, Dave is quick to reference his former manager Jack or his board of directors, give credit to the “exceptional DWA employees,” or credit particular individuals by name. It is almost as if he does not work at DWA; Dave will never say, “I did this,” or “I did that.” Walking with Dave through the DWA office and facilities is an experience—almost like being in a scene from the movie “Patton.” People greet him warmly but tend to scatter and get busy quickly. It is clear there is great respect, and that folks take their jobs very seriously.

It has been my observation that the very best general managers often reference the people they learned from and are very comfortable giving credit to others. That is certainly true of Dave. He talks a lot about all he learned from Jack and about how capable and conscientious the DWA employees are. An additional observation of the very best managers like Dave is the positive relationships they 2

develop with their board of directors. Every water agency is different. Certainly, people are different and have different personalities. However, the very best managers always find a way to build respectful, collaborative working relationships where everyone understands their role.

Organized, high-performing water agencies with a culture of excellence are no accident; they are the direct result of strong and effective leadership. DWA is an exceptionally performing organization because Dave assumed the mantle of leadership from his previous manager; used all that he learned; hired the best people; empowered them to do their jobs; and held all, most notably himself, to the highest of standards. After Dave’s retirement at the end of January, the continuation of DWA’s performance, exceptional employees, and culture of excellence will be his legacy.

Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Municipal Water Leader and Irrigation Leader magazines. He is also president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations, marketing, and publishing company he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

Municipal Water Leader

JANUARY 2016

C O N T E N T S 2 The Highest of Standards

VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1 Municipal Water Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by Water Strategies LLC 4 E Street SE Washington, DC 20003 STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief John Crotty, Editor Valentina Valenta, Writer Robin Pursley, Graphic Designer Capital Copyediting LLC, Copyeditor SUBMISSIONS: Municipal Water Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved.

Submissions are returned only on request.

ADVERTISING: Municipal Water Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Municipal Water Leader is distributed nationally to managers and boards of directors of water agencies with annual budgets of $10 million or more; the governors and state legislators in all 50 states; all members of Congress and select committee staff; and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact our office at Municipal.Water.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright 2015 Water Strategies LLC. Municipal Water Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources and water industry professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Municipal Water Leader, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Municipal Water Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Municipal Water Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised.

COVER PHOTO: Growing Water Supplies in the Desert: A Conservation with Dave Luker Municipal Water Leader

By Kris Polly

4 Growing Water Supplies in the

Desert: A Conservation With Dave Luker

10 Making Every Drop Count: Desert

Water Agency’s Recycling Strategy

14 Eastern Municipal Water District:

Leading the Way for Water Reuse in Southern California

18 City of Kerrville Delivering a

Cutting-Edge Water Supply for the Community

LEADERSHIP PROFILE 22 Martin L. Adams, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power MANAGER PROFILE 26 Paul A. Cook, Irvine Ranch Water District ASSOCIATION PROFILE 30 Kelly Collins, Western Coalition of Arid States LEGISLATIVE PROFILE 34 Helping Make Every Drop Count in a Full Water Portfolio

By Congresswoman Grace Napolitano

CLASSIFIED LISTINGS 38 Classifieds 3

Growing Water Supplies in the Desert:

D

A Conversation With Dave Luker

ave Luker assumed the role of Desert Water Agency’s (DWA) general manager-chief engineer on October 1, 2004. He is DWA’s fifth general manager since it was formed in 1961. He had previously served as the agency’s assistant general manager.

DWA’s service area is roughly 325 square miles, which makes up the western third of the Coachella Valley in terms of its watershed and aquifer. The system consists of 30 wells, 14 booster pumping plants, and 30 reservoirs and water tanks.

The agency’s reservoirs can store from 100,000 to 12 million gallons. Most of the reservoirs store about 5 million gallons.

DWA serves roughly 23,000 service connections.

Mr. Luker joined DWA in 1993 as its operations engineer after serving 13 years with Krieger & Stewart, a civil and environmental consulting firm based in Riverside, California, where he rose to the position of vice president. He also worked for the Rancho California Water District.

Mr. Luker is a registered California civil engineer, a registered professional engineer in Oklahoma, and a licensed California land surveyor. He is a member of the Palm Springs Club, the Association of California Water Agencies, the National Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Water Works Association, and the California Land Surveyors Association.

Mr. Luker and his wife, Pam, are the parents of three daughters.

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Municipal Water Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, spoke with Mr. Luker about navigating the challenges associated with managing a service area in the desert, the agency’s water reuse programs, and his efforts to deliver a reliable, clean, and fresh water supply to a growing population.

Kris Polly: Please tell us about DWA’s history, system, and service area.

Dave Luker: DWA was born in 1961, during a time of long-term overdraft, as a groundwater replenishment agency. We were formed to be a part of the California State Water Project (SWP). We were strictly a wholesale water agency at the beginning. In 1968, we bought two private mutual water companies, Palm Springs Water Company and Cathedral City Water Company, and became a retail system.

Though DWA was created to be a part of the California SWP, it is important to understand that we don’t receive any water directly from it. We have been a contractor of the SWP since 1961, but we have never received state project supplies because the aqueduct that carries the water from Sacramento does not extend far enough to reach the Coachella Valley. The aqueduct runs down to the community of Beaumont, but that is miles away from us. We have done studies that tell us

Municipal Water Leader

it would cost roughly $2 billion to build an aqueduct from the existing facilities to our service area. In lieu of building that extension, we entered into a long-term agreement with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to access additional water supplies.

Metropolitan has rights to access the water that is transported by the Colorado River Aqueduct, which runs right through our service area and the Coachella Valley Water District’s service area and covers the other twothirds of the valley. We exchange our state supplies, which we pay for, and deliver them to Metropolitan. In return, Metropolitan delivers Colorado River water to us so that we can recharge the Whitewater and Mission Creek subbasins.

We believe there are roughly 25 million acre-feet of water in the Whitewater subbasin. We have recharged it over the years. If our water supply were cut off tomorrow, the water stored in the basin could likely supply our community for many decades if our demand and consumption do not increase. This is obviously a doomsday scenario. However, if California doesn’t fix its water delivery system and meet its contractual obligations to the contractors, our economy and citizens will suffer.

Kris Polly: Does supplying municipal water in a desert call for different operating strategies or infrastructure?

Dave Luker: I believe that operating in the desert does call for different measures. We are a replenishment agency. We have to replenish the aquifer that provides for domestic retail water suppliers. It is a two-fold approach.

Having worked in the private sector in water throughout southern California, I see a lot of similarities between our system and other systems. However, since we are located in an area that faces extremely hot and dry temperatures, we have designed our system specifically for the heat. We treat every pumping plant very carefully with regard to ventilation to overcome high temperatures. For example, we oversize the system’s motors, conductors, and starter panels. We move a lot of air through the system to keep heat from building up in a confined space.

We have built a lot of capacity into our entire system, which is the key to having a strong and reliable operation.

In fact, we have so much capacity that when the local power utility, Southern California Edison, asks us to reduce load during a particularly hot time or due to other unforeseen events, we have the capacity to shut many plants down for the requested time period. Average shutdown times are typically for two to four hours. In return for our compliance, the power company provides us with a 10 percent refund on costs of power that we would ordinarily consume. Our power costs average Municipal Water Leader

about $3 million annually, but since we have begun doing demand reduction and response, we have received roughly $300,000, or 10 percent, back.

Kris Polly: Please tell our readers about DWA’s water recycling work.

Dave Luker: DWA began recycling its water in the late 1980s. Our board of directors took the lead to develop our recycling system. At the time, there was a wastewater supply from the Palm Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant that was being used to irrigate local municipal golf courses. The State of California decided that secondary wastewater was inadequate for irrigation and banned its use, so the City of Palm Springs needed to build a recycling plant, which it could not afford to do. The City approached DWA and asked us to provide the tertiary treatment and continue the irrigation supply needed for its parks and golf courses. DWA began building that plant with a $9 million investment. We bought the property and extended the pipelines. With the exception of a $2 million loan, we were able to pay for much of the project.

We expanded the system to eight different delivery sites throughout our service area, including a high school, a regional park, and our own facilities. Every public golf course in our service area uses a recycled supply. We have invested about $27 million in that system over its life cycle, and it has become a very important part of our service.

We also augment that recycled supply with some groundwater from shallow wells. We take shallow water off the top of the aquifer that normally would not be used for drinking water delivery, and we put it into the recycling plant to augment the flows for our customers.

It is important to draw from the wells because we were

Dave Luker discusses the day's work ahead with Operations Technician Jeff Pease.

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Kris Polly: In November 2014, the voters of California approved a $7 billion water bond. Can you please update our readers on the status of implementation of this bond and how you expect it will benefit agencies like DWA?

Operations Technicians Jose Barajas and Jonathan Arredondo update Dave Luker on solar field output and maintenance schedule.

running out of recycled water to sell. We had more demand than we had wastewater to treat, so we filled that gap with this shallow system.

Kris Polly: Can you tell us about your work with renewable energy and how it is helping to keep water bills lower?

Dave Luker: We got into the energy business around 2005. There was a great solar energy program the state was promoting at that time. We took advantage of it because it made economic sense, not because it was an environmentally sensitive thing to do. The program paid for itself in a relatively short period of time, like all investments should.

The first phase of the project provided roughly 350 kilowatts and powered our entire operations facility. We recently expanded the system to a little over 1 megawatt total, and now that photovoltaic system provides all our power, not only for our operations center, but also for our recycling plant. It is producing savings of more than $100,000 a year. It’s a good enterprise. It’s a good investment. The best thing about this program is that it allows us to meet a large demand for recycled water with free energy.

In addition to solar energy, we invested in hydropower facilities in the 1980s. We have two different power plants, Whitewater Canyon and Snow Creek, which have a combined 1.3 megawatts of generating capacity. The Whitewater Canyon power plant paid for itself in about 10 years. It was a great investment, although the drought has certainly limited our ability to generate hydroelectric supplies right now. That is why we expanded our solar program; it’s drought proof.

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Dave Luker: There is no question that we need to complete the SWP. The bond is not going to provide us with the resources we need to fix all of California’s water problems. A large portion of the bond will be provided to develop additional storage for the state project, which is badly needed. The bond is also supposed to help solve some of the operational and management issues of the SWP’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta system.

Unfortunately, deliveries from the SWP to its contractors have been limited in recent years due to environmental restrictions.

The bond is just the first step. There is another big measure called the California WaterFix that aims to provide roughly $15 billion to revamp California’s water delivery system with a series of tunnels. We need to fix the current delivery method of supplies to ensure the future of California.

Kris Polly: Please tell our readers how drought has affected DWA and the measures you’ve undertaken in response.

Dave Luker: The drought has had a lot of effects on the community. There are a lot of visible changes in town, ranging from brown grass to dying shrubbery and trees.

The state put restrictions on water agencies using a onesize-fits-all approach.

The restrictions are unreasonable for DWA for a number of reasons. The state restrictions don’t take into account the specific climate in the desert. We have the highest required water use reduction in the state.

Our customers have done a great job responding to the limitations. We have some incredible programs to incentivize our customers to make those reductions, and we are very proud that we are able to provide those programs even though we are selling significantly less of the one thing we are supposed to sell.

Kris Polly: What is DWA doing to encourage conservation in its service area?

Dave Luker: One of our biggest expenditures over the past two years is the turf buy-back program, which has cost about $1 million a year. We are using that program to reduce outdoor irrigation. We provide products for customers that are free of charge, such as smart controllers, to enhance their ability to be smart irrigators. We also Municipal Water Leader

have a high-efficiency toilet rebate that is maximized every year. We conduct extensive public outreach and communications efforts to encourage people to use less water and be more efficient. We also dedicate a lot of time to performing outreach activities with various public organizations, such as neighborhood associations and other local groups. We also perform water audits for large users to show them where they can extend savings and use less.

Kris Polly: What is the biggest challenge you currently face, and what challenges do you anticipate in the next decade at DWA? Dave Luker: We have an aging infrastructure. DWA has roughly 70 miles of pipeline that was installed from 1925 to 1955. It will be a tremendous undertaking, but we are repairing and replacing that infrastructure. That rehabilitation of our delivery system is made even more challenging because we must do it at the same time that we have declining revenue. The state’s water use restrictions do not take into account the revenue sources that water utilities rely on to maintain an infrastructureintensive program. So, we are going to have to revamp our rate system to pay for infrastructure rehabilitation and maintenance.

Kris Polly: What is your message to Congress and the other decisionmakers regarding municipal water entities?

Dave Luker: Municipal water entities are the most efficient form of government. If the state and federal decisionmakers would get out of our way a little more often, we could do a lot more good. I believe that grants and earmarks for infrastructure, whether they are designated for water systems or streets and roads, should be replaced by loans. The federal government does not have money in its budget to fix all of our country’s water infrastructure problems.

I believe utilities like us should be able to charge our customers for the services they need, and that includes the capital to maintain and operate the facilities we

Dave Luker in front of a 2.3 million gallon effluent reservoir that stores recycled water before it is distributed.

need to deliver that service to them. We should have the wherewithal to tell the customer that this service costs a certain amount of dollars.

Kris Polly: What are your greatest accomplishments at DWA? Dave Luker: Our greatest accomplishment is the daily work of our highly competent staff. Our team has a very high work ethic that is engrained in the fabric of the agency. All the projects I have discussed in this interview are great, but they wouldn’t be as successful as they are without our staff.

Kris Polly: What should every person in your service area know about DWA? Dave Luker: Our customers should know that we have a very hardworking team. If the public sees us working in the street, they should know that we are there to save water. We are doing our best to protect their interests by providing water, wastewater, and recycling services. Our mission is to continue saving water for our community now and for generations to come.

Desert Water Agency reservoirs.

Municipal Water Leader

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Making Every Drop Count: Desert Water Agency’s Recycling Strategy

D

esert Water Agency (DWA) began its recycled water program with the opening of its reclamation plant in 1988.

Through that plant, the agency is able to take wastewater and treat it to service large customers’ irrigation needs.

Through DWA’s recycling program, treated water is provided to golf courses, parks, medians, and the local high school. The use of recycled water in landscaping saves millions of gallons of potable drinking water.

Using recycled water protects the Coachella Valley’s drinking water supply because it reduces the amount of nitrates that reach the groundwater basin.

Recycling water also saves energy, as it uses only a quarter of the energy needed to pump groundwater from deep wells. With the plant running entirely on solar power, DWA customers save even more.

Conservation Demonstration Map

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Eastern Municipal Water District:

Leading the Way for Water Reuse in Southern California

C

alifornia is now in its fifth year of record-setting drought, and many water agencies throughout the state continue to look for ways to maximize local water supply resources. Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), headquartered in the city of Perris, in western Riverside County, is doing just that with its industry-leading recycled water program.

Through its purple-pipe system (pipes that carry recycled water at the district are wrapped with a purple coating), EMWD has successfully used 100 percent of its recycled water supply in each of the past two years while becoming one of the largest by-volume sellers of recycled water in the state. Recycled water currently accounts for 33 percent of EMWD’s overall water supply portfolio, which allows the district to rely less on limited potable water resources for a significant amount of the irrigation needs throughout its 542‑square-mile service area.

While agriculture uses a majority of the recycled water produced by EMWD—crops include Asian vegetables, potatoes, strawberries, and feed and fodder crops—the tertiary‑treated water is also used for irrigation of parks, schools, common-area landscaping, wildlife areas, and a 600-megawatt power plant. The power plant uses recycled water for cooling tower purposes.

EMWD Board President Randy Record explained, “Our recycled water program has provided a direct benefit to all of our customers by allowing us to successfully use our resources in the most responsible way possible. By using

recycled water, we are able to import less potable water and keep costs lower for many of our customers.”

Building Recycling Into the Water Portfolio

As a full-service water, wastewater, and recycled water agency, EMWD has made beneficial use of the 46 million gallons of wastewater it treats daily at its four regional water reclamation facilities. Through a biological process, solids are removed and the water is treated and disinfected before being put into a separate distribution system. That system includes more than 250 miles of transmission pipelines, 2 billion gallons of surface and elevated storage capacity, and a completely pressurized system that can accommodate peak demands placed on it throughout the year.

A recycled water sign is shown near some landscape irrigation. Many streetscapes in the region are irrigated with recycled water through water-efficient, point-to-point irrigation systems.

The Perris Valley Regional Water Reclamation Facility is the flagship of EMWD’s four regional reclamation plants. It has the ability to treat 22 million gallons of wastewater per day and transform it into high-quality recycled water for irrigation purposes.

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Municipal Water Leader

The system underwent a significant expansion in the mid-1990s due, in large part, to significant grant funding provided by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s title XVI program. Since that time, it has continued to grow under EMWD’s Mandatory Use Policy, which requires that “recycled water (or other non-potable) supplies shall be used to the maximum extent possible for any approved use.”

All new development within 1 mile of an existing recycled water pipeline must undergo a review process to determine whether it is able to connect to the recycled water system. If approved, development fees fund the expansion of the system to the new shopping centers, streetscapes, and common-area landscaping (including parks and schools) in residential developments. EMWD is currently investing $50 million in the system to pay for ongoing capital improvements planned over rolling five-year periods.

As agricultural use continues to make way for new housing and commerce, the expansion of the system into new residential and commercial developments will allow EMWD to continue to use 100 percent of its available supplies while accommodating the demands of the changing uses.

offer funding programs that help promote the conversion to recycled water.”

Financing Reuse

Preparing for Additional Demand

EMWD has also worked hard to establish and promote programs that provide the necessary financial tools to make the conversion from potable to recycled water systems. For example, EMWD partnered with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, of which EMWD is a member agency, to develop retrofit programs. EMWD is independently funding a conversion program for 20 sites that are adjacent to existing facilities but have been using potable water.

The 20-site conversion project is expected to achieve nearly 400 acre-feet of potable water savings annually. The end users will see a small reduction in their potable rate with the difference between the recycled water costs and the new rate being used to pay down the balance of the conversion costs that EMWD fronted. This will result in immediate and long-term cost savings to the customer.

In 2015, a homeowner’s community in Menifee, California, completed a conversion project for its commonarea landscaping that will save more than 9 million gallons of potable water each year. Nearly 10 percent of the program’s funding was provided by grants from Metropolitan. Other organizations have recently completed similar projects.

According to EMWD General Manager Paul Jones, “Our board of directors has established a clear direction that we will use 100 percent of our recycled water supply each year. At the same time, it is incredibly important that our recycled water has price points that provide a direct financial incentive for our customers to use these resources instead of potable water. That is why it is so important that we

Municipal Water Leader

Bruce Scott of Scott Bros. Dairy in San Jacinto watches as his feed and fodder crops are irrigated with recycled water.

To successfully manage the growing demands placed on its system, EMWD provides an allocation to each recycled water user, including maximum flow rates that vary depending on the season.

The district is adding additional storage ponds, which are vital to ensure that water can be stored in the low-demand winter months, so it is available in the summer when usage demands outpace production from the wastewater facilities.

EMWD has also initiated a groundwater modeling and feasibility study for an indirect potable reuse program.

As irrigation needs change and growth occurs, resulting in an increased volume of wastewater and recycled water, long-range planning is vital to ensure that every drop can continue to benefit the region’s changing water supply needs.

As California continues to face an uncertain future with its water supplies, the investments EMWD has made in ensuring the availability of recycled water have been vital in keeping schools and parks green for recreational purposes and supporting the region’s strong agricultural economy.

“We are proud of the system we have established,” said Mr. Record. He explained, “We also understand that we have a responsibility to be prepared for additional demands that will be placed on the system in the future. We are confident that as our region grows and needs change, our recycled water system will be prepared to meet those demands, and we can continue using this valuable resource for the benefit of all of our customers.”

For more information about EMWD’s water recycling program, please contact Paul Jones at (951) 928‑3777.

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City of Kerrville Delivering a CuttingEdge Water Supply for the Community

“H

ow do we sustain ourselves through long-term that the only way to do that would be to build a storage drought? Today, though the map shows that pond. That plan led to a Freese and Nichols study of Texas is largely out of the drought, our river the technical feasibility of building a big reuse pond and flows remain lower than they have ever been. We got some selling that additional water to reuse customers. rain recently, but it won’t sustain us long term.” These are Richard Weatherly of Freese and Nichols explained, the concerns of Kristine Day, deputy manager of the City “The study is being completed in multiple phases. The of Kerrville, Texas. first phase of the study was completed in 2013 and looked Kerrville, Texas, is in the heart of the Hill Country, located about 45 miles west of San Antonio and 90 miles from Austin. The population is about 22,900.

Kerrville is also the county seat of Kerr County. The City owns and operates the water system as a public utility.

The city’s water system has about 10,000 active water connections and several water sources. The major surface source is the Guadalupe River, which runs through the community. The water utility relies on permits for run of the river rights as well as impoundment rights. The city also has two aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) wells and Kerrville's 105-million gallon reuse pond will cover over 23 acres. eight traditional groundwater wells.

Because of the topography, there are many different pressure planes and booster pumps. Today, water distribution depends on about 240 miles of pipe.

Kerrville has a track record for water reuse. In 2001, former mayor Ben Low visited the wastewater treatment plant and saw the water that was going back out to the creek. He asked what could been done to reuse the water. The City embarked on a highly successful reuse system. The city primarily uses recycled water for athletic fields and golf courses.

The pond's outer wall height will be up to 26 feet high.

Ms. Day noted, “An interesting thing with our reuse system today is at the feasibility of the reuse storage pond.” The idea is to that during the four months of the summer, we have store treated wastewater effluent during the winter months no additional reuse available. All of it goes out to our for reuse in the summer months. The study determined customers, which has been the catalyst for us to look at that a 105‑million‑gallon storage pond to store treated the next phase of reuse.” City staff has been preparing a wastewater was most cost effective. reuse plan to serve additional customers and determined

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Municipal Water Leader

The second phase of the study is ongoing and is examining the feasibility of direct potable reuse (DPR). The goal is to treat the wastewater to a higher standard—a drinking water standard—and then directly inject the treated water into the ground as an ASR well.

The City of Kerrville built the first ASR wells in Texas and has experience with the technology. The city has two ASR wells that take treated surface water from the Guadalupe River.

Mr. Richard emphasized, “Reuse is still cutting edge, and Kerrville is really looking at how to make its reuse projects successful, whether they are nonpotable or potable. We are helping Kerrville to have the best possible reuse projects for the community. People are going to like what we can deliver. We are helping to make Kerrville not only sustainable and sound but also economically vibrant.

Reuse can do that.”

DPR presents new challenges in science, engineering, and regulatory compliance. The Texas Council on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) requires one year of water quality testing followed by a one-year pilot test for DPR. The City and Freese and Nichols met with TCEQ a year ago to introduce the project. Over the past six months, the project team has sampled water outflow at the wastewater plant and plans for a year of sampling.

After the data collection, the team will evaluate the data and determine what level of treatment would be needed to meet drinking water standards. The treatment process plays a big role in determining the cost of a DPR project and, thus, on the overall feasibility of the project. Answers to these questions will further inform decisions on the future strategy for the reuse pond.

Ms. Day added, “We are taking this step by step and trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves. We are making sure it is not only acceptable to the public, but that it is also financially acceptable for our system and utilities. We are spending a significant amount of energy and time on water quality testing to see what it would look like for treatment before we move to the next step.” Only after this testing can informed design and construction proceed. The whole process could take about four or five years before DPR is implemented.

The pond is the first phase of the entire project.

Constant flow is needed in order to run a water plant, and the reuse pond provides that flow. The City anticipates starting construction of the pond in May–July 2016, depending on the bidding process. The target is to be

Municipal Water Leader

delivering reuse water to new customers by the end of 2017. The complete delivery system would include the distribution lines as well as the pond.

Ms. Day explained that the cutting-edge project is pivotal to sustaining the economy and lifestyle of Kerrville.

“Reuse is already important to the city of Kerrville. We have three golf courses in our town, which, for the size of our community, take up a lot of land. Reuse makes sure that those courses stay viable not only for playability but also for the value of the homes adjacent to them. That reuse water has allowed them to sustain through the past four or five years of drought. Moving forward, we will be able to add customers to the system for another golf course and a future athletic facility, which includes about 100 acres for a baseball and soccer complex. Our local university and school district, which do not have access to water during times of drought, would like to use our system as well so they can play games on the athletic fields.”

Mr. Weatherly summarized the overall strategy.

“The goal is to reduce the surface water and drinking water demand and offset it with reuse water for certain customers.”

There is good news for ratepayers. The City has not had to raise rates for customers. Financing is underway.

The City has initiated the process of selling the first set of bonds to pay for the construction of the reuse pond. The initial debt offering is $10 million. Ms. Day stated, “We are able to do an $18.5 million project without raising any rates to our customers. We actually had the ability in our debt models to do it and still remain significantly below any state requirements or bonding requirements. We are able to do this within the bonding capacity of the utility system.”

Kerrville is making great strides in being able to offer reuse that will sustain the community for a long time to come. Ms. Day added, “Even if we choose not to do DPR right now, our current work will help to set up a future generation to do DPR.” The project is testimony to the progress that can be made when innovative municipalities team with the engineering sector and work closely with regulators to bring concept to reality.

For more information about Kerrville’s water resuse project, contact Kristine Day at Kristine.Day@kerrvilletx.gov or Richard Weatherly at Richard.Weatherly@freese.com.

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1/15/2016 11:34:27 AM

LEADERSHIP PROFILE

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Martin L. Adams, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

ormed in 1902, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the largest municipal utility in the United States. It serves 4 million people who consume an average of about 5 million gallons per day (mgd) across 470 square miles of diverse geography. LADWP has worked aggressively to drive that need down over the last several decades.

Martin Adams is the senior assistant general manager of the LADWP’s water system. With more than 30 years of experience with LADWP, Mr. Adams has worked throughout the water system. Prior to his current appointment, he spent 10 years as the director of water operations. In that role, he was in charge of the day-to-day operation and maintenance of the Los Angeles water delivery system, including the historic Los Angeles Aqueduct. Mr. Adams is a life-long resident of the Los Angeles area and received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Municipal Water Leader’s writer, Valentina Valenta, spoke with Mr. Adams about LADWP’s fascinating history, its unique saltwater intrusion barrier, and its plans to transform the future of water supply for residents and businesses in Los Angeles in the coming decades through its trailblazing recycling and reuse programs.

Valentina Valenta: Los Angeles has a long and interesting history of water development. Please provide our readers with a brief history of the area’s water system.

Marty Adams: When the city of Los Angeles was growing around 1900, there was a large national interest to develop cities and urban areas on the West Coast. At that time, Los Angeles had a population of about 250,000 people who lived on a very precarious local water supply. It was not reliable year to year.

So, the City made water rights claims up in the eastern Sierra Nevada, between the Central Valley and the basin and range province, in the area known

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as the Owens Valley. Following the acquisition of those water rights, the City constructed the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the first big water transportation system in the West, and brought water several hundred miles down to the city. The Los Angeles Aqueduct is what really allowed the city to grow into the metropolis that it has become today.

After the Los Angeles Aqueduct went into service in 1913, the City of Los Angeles and a dozen other cities formed the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a large water wholesaler, to construct the Colorado River Aqueduct to bring more water from the Colorado River into Southern California. The State of California has a certain right to the water in the Colorado River that was passed by an act of Congress.

Within the state, there are different rights that were provided to different water agencies. So, those two aqueducts formed the crux of the system that initially brought water into Southern California.

After the aqueducts were built, the State Water Project (SWP) [a water storage and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, powerplants, and pumping plants in northern California that delivers water to two-thirds of California’s population] was constructed. The SWP joined the Los Angeles and Colorado River Aqueducts in delivering an adequate water supply to California.

By the 1970s, 85–90 percent of southern California’s water was imported from hundreds of miles away. This is how the city grew and lived for a number of decades.

Starting as early as 1980, LADWP began looking at water conservation, water recycling, and strategies that would enhance local water supplies and make us less reliant on water supplies that were so far away. So, we have had a long-term plan in place (accelerated by the drought) to not turn entirely away from imported supplies, but to refocus our attention on local supplies and find ways to optimize that system for the future of our city.

Valentina Valenta: Los Angeles has ambitious goals to turn toward local water supplies and away from imported water. Can you please tell us about Municipal Water Leader

that strategy and its motivation? How do water reuse and recycling contribute to that strategy?

Marty Adams: The plan for the city is to rely less on our imported water supplies. At one point, between the two aqueducts and water diversions from the Mono basin, we brought about 470,000 acre-feet of water a year into the city of Los Angeles. When I started my career at LADWP over 30 years ago, 70–75 percent of the entire water supply for the city came from the Owens River and the two aqueducts.

The landmark 1983 Mono Lake court decision actually reduced the amount of water we could withdraw from the Mono basin in order to prevent environmental damage.

That was the beginning of a number of steps that affected the Los Angeles Aqueduct. We were required to enter into a number of projects to mitigate the effects of our previous decades of water diversions. We had agreements with Inyo County, where the Owens Valley is located, to do these mitigation projects.

By the 1990s, we realized that our outflows, if we had a normal snowpack for the year, would be about half of what they were historically. So, when that occurred, we realized that we had to buy replacement water because the aqueduct wasn’t going to provide it. We had to purchase higherpriced water from the California delta system, which had its own reliability challenges.

After the onset of the current drought, we recognized that our water supplies were not as reliable and sustainable as we thought. This led LADWP to look internally and create a strong plan to develop local water supplies.

Stormwater is one of the things we focused on. It doesn’t rain a lot in Southern California, but when it does rain, a lot of water falls down very quickly into the rivers and flows out to the ocean. Like many cities throughout the world, we have constructed our city to reduce the flooding and damage caused by stormwater. Consequently, by removing that water so quickly from the streets, we were losing a lot of local water supply. We realized that we had to capture stormwater, put it to use, and incorporate it as part of our city’s long-term water supply. We have a very large groundwater basin in the San Fernando Valley.

At the same time, we also looked at recycled water.

We release 250 mgd of wastewater into the ocean. We investigated opportunities to take that wastewater, treat it, and use it for irrigation or industrial purposes, groundwater storage, or other potable ends. The idea was to short circuit the water cycle.

Stormwater capture, storage, and wastewater recycling and reuse are a priority for the city. LADWP has been working on this for the last decade or so. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has expressed the need to accelerate the progress we are making with these plans and push Municipal Water Leader

Marty Adams addresses media during a press conference at the Hansen Dam Golf Course celebrating completion of the recycled water system. The new system at Hansen Golf Course will save 500 acre-feet per year or 163 million gallons a year, which is enough to supply 4,000 residents for a year.

these projects ahead because we don’t know how long the current drought will last. We now have a goal to cut our purchased water by half by 2025. At that point, the goal will be to supply at least one-quarter of the city’s water demands from local water sources.

Valentina Valenta: What are the biggest uses of water proportionately? What do you see as the largest uses of water 10 to 20 years from now?

Marty Adams: In our water system, about two-thirds of our demand is for residential uses and one-third of that goes to single-family homes. About half the water used in single-family homes is for the outdoors. We have undertaken conservation efforts for residences and businesses for a couple of decades. About 10 years ago, we celebrated the installation of the one-millionth residential low-flush toilet. We have done a really great job of reducing indoor water use.

There is a lot of water conservation that can be achieved outdoors at the residential level with certain improvements, such as removing turf and planting California landscapes.

Fifteen years ago, we were planting cactuses, desert plants, and rocks, but now we are planting a whole variety of Mediterranean landscapes that will maintain the beauty of the city and transform our outdoor water use. We run a number of additional programs to improve outdoor irrigation as well. This is the biggest untapped area for water savings.

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Valentina Valenta: LADWP’s Recycled Water Master Plan sets ambitious goals for water reuse. Can you please summarize the basic components of the plan?

Marty Adams: The Recycled Water Master Plan looked at where we should do water recycling. Moving water around is the most complex obstacle and expensive pieces of a water system. The congestion of existing pipes, other utility infrastructure, and heavy traffic impairs the installation of new pipe under city streets. So, we took a look at the greenbelt areas, where recycling would make sense, including those areas close to a recycling plant.

When we began developing the Recycled Water Master Plan, LADWP had already been recycling water for a number of years in certain heavy commercial use areas, which allowed us to viably invest in the infrastructure.

We were doing at great job in those areas, so we focused on those areas in which we could offset potable water use with additional recycled water use. We have customers that already pay for water supply, so the goal was to figure out how to trade out their water supply and use the broader customer-based money to save everyone the cost of bringing imported water into the city.

Another key element of the Recycled Water Master Plan is taking highly treated wastewater and getting it into the water system. The cornerstone of the plan is called the Groundwater Replenishment Project, which moves highly treated water from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the San Fernando Valley into spreading grounds. It percolates it into the water basin and becomes part of the water supply that we pull from the San Fernando Valley aquifer. The project would be a huge boost to local supplies, providing about four or five times as much recycled water as we currently have. The quality would exceed drinking water standards and become a long-term part of our water supply portfolio.

We really looked at this project from an economic standpoint. As the cost of getting water from the SWP increases, high-cost recycled water projects become much more cost effective. Proposition 1 and other measures will provide some funding for these beneficial projects. When a city the size of Los Angeles develops additional water supplies, or needs less of a water supply, then the water we don’t need becomes available to others with more critical demand. When you drop a stone in a pond the size of Los Angeles, the ripple effects are felt throughout California. Water that we don’t need from systems like the Colorado River and the SWP would easily become available to other users.

Right now, our recycled water is a very small fraction of our water supply portfolio. It will continue to grow. Once we get the Groundwater Replenishment Project online, we 24

will look to leverage every drop of wastewater throughout the city as a potential source of water supply for our future.

Valentina Valenta: People have been writing for years about saltwater intrusion in aquifers in Southern California. LADWP is actually doing something about that problem with the barrier supplement. Can you please tell our readers about this important use of recycled water?

Marty Adams: We have a multiagency deal that works to solve this issue. The Los Angeles Sanitation Bureau (LASB) has a wastewater plant that has a recycled component in San Pedro. With Los Angeles County, we work to deliver LASB’s water to the Dominion Gap barrier. The barrier has reverse wells. So, instead of pumping water out of the wells, they are designed so you can inject water down into the wells into the groundwater basin. That action creates a hydraulic hump underground that prevents ocean water from crossing over into the groundwater basin.

The central groundwater basin is very large and is an important storage component. We are one of many players that pumps water out of it. However, if we pump water below sea level, water from the ocean could work its way back in horizontally to fill that hole. So, by putting water into these water barriers in the basin, we essentially create underground dams to contain the recycled water and prevent the crossover of seawater. In any coastal place in the world, when you pump too much groundwater near the ocean, the seawater travels horizontally to rebuild that basin. Once you get saltwater in your groundwater basin, it is becomes nearly unusable and very difficult to treat.

The recycled water used for the barrier supplement is highly treated, exceed's drinking water standards, and is used to create a dam to separate the ocean from the basin, thereby protecting the groundwater supply. We are essentially using recycled water to protect our water supply.

It is very successful. We don’t have a lot of large reservoirs in Southern California, and we cannot store enough water above ground to become locally dependent. So, we need to make more effective use of our groundwater basins. There is a lot of support for maximizing the use of below-ground storage, but that also means we need to place priorities on protecting our groundwater basins from saltwater intrusion, which is a key component of being able to use them; otherwise, we will never reach our local water supply goals.

Valentina Valenta: Please tell us about the overall regulatory climate for recycled water. Do we need any adjustments in regulatory laws to better use recycled water?

Municipal Water Leader

Marty Adams: If you asked me this question five years ago, I would have said yes, but the State has made tremendous strides to enhance regulations for recycled water providers. There used to be a lot of concerns about using water for above-ground applications like irrigation.

There were also concerns about overspray and people being exposed to recycled water that does not meet drinking water standards. So, the State has made refinements to recycled water standards in certain areas. On construction sites, ranches, and similar areas, recycled water does not need to meet drinking water standards.

The State also now recognizes the ability and need to spread recycled water. It recognizes that injecting recycled water into our groundwater basins is safe and beneficial. There are a lot of laws that protect our basins from contaminants. We’ve seen this big change in how we can use recycled water and get it back into circulation as quickly as possible over the last several years. The State is very active right now at pursuing direct potable reuse. So, we are inching closer and closer to being able to use our city’s recycled water for drinking water supply.

The next step will be to see if we can get recycled water back into our filter plants. This will be a huge leap.

A number of years ago, when we told people about water recycling, they were disgusted by the idea. The reality is that about 20 percent of the water we receive from the SWP has been recycled and treated by cities and areas around or north of the Sacramento River delta. So, there is already recycled water in circulation.

There is a not a single drop of new water on the earth; all the people on the earth that came before us use the use the same water we use today. There is always this notion that when water evaporates and comes down as rain, that somehow Mother Nature has a magic recipe to clean it.

The fact is that man-made processes to clean water are much more effective and protective of the water than any natural process. California is coming to grips with what kind of processes and safeguards we need to short-circuit the water cycle.

The water supply is unreliable. It varies every year and is located in different places at different times. If we can use the water we already have in our possession and treat it to the same kind of standards and beyond that natural and man-made processes do, then we will be way ahead.

Valentina Valenta: Do you see any reduced return flow challenges associated with water recycling in Los Angeles, and how do you address such concerns?

Marty Adams: Fortunately, Los Angeles is not terribly affected by reduced return flows, but we are seeing this problem from time to time. One man’s trash is another Municipal Water Leader

man’s treasure. Some downstream users rely on treated wastewater from upstream users for water supply. Some water managers are concerned that they can’t do enough recycling because it will affect downstream users or some environmental use of the water.

We are all borrowers of the water. We need to ask ourselves who is reliant on us to put the water back, and where do we need to put it back in the system. In Los Angeles, the majority of our wastewater typically goes straight to the ocean, and we are not constrained by return flow needs. There is a habitat in the Los Angeles River that we need to protect, and provisions are already included in our Recycled Water Master Plan to do that.

Since we don’t have a downstream customer that relies on us to put water back into the system, we don’t have to worry about increases made to our recycling efforts.

That said, this is a real concern for many communities with downstream users that have significant authorized levels of allocation, but there are ways to overcome that challenge.

Valentina Valenta: What are LADWP’s biggest successes in water recycling? What is the future of water recycling in Los Angeles?

Marty Adams: Our biggest success in water recycling can be found in the collective understanding of our recycled water customers. Recycled water has become critical to their operations. It has provided a droughtproof water supply for the benefit of the public and protects public infrastructure so we can have green parks that can be enjoyed without affecting overall water supplies. There is a greater recognition of how important the recycled water supply is to both businesses and public agencies. When we first started recycling 30 years ago, recycling was simply considered a way to get rid of a waste product. Recycled water is now something that people actively want because they know it is valuable; it is a reliable supply and the price is competitive. It’s amazing how the value placed on recycled water has changed.

For us, in the future, the big ticket will be when we get that recycled water in the San Fernando Valley back into the groundwater basin and work to clean up contaminants in that basin. We are going to seriously leverage the city’s local water supply, change the dynamic of how we supply water within the city, and reduce our statewide footprint. The Groundwater Replenishment Project will be the component of our portfolio that sets the stage for additional projects in the future. It will be a huge step forward for Los Angeles’ local water sustainability efforts.

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MANAGER PROFILE

Paul A. Cook Irvine Ranch Water District

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aul Cook is the general manager of Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD). He is responsible for all aspects of dayto-day district operations, including a staff of nearly 325 and a combined annual operating and capital budget of over $225 million.

During Mr. Cook’s tenure as general manager, IRWD has continued its long-standing commitment to water supply reliability, sustainability, and innovation with capital projects that include the largest project in IRWD’s history, the Biosolids and Energy Recovery Facilities Project. IRWD has expanded the production and use of recycled water and added to its water supply portfolio with new local wells, additional water treatment facilities, and an innovative water-banking program. Customer rates continue to be among the lowest in Orange County.

Mr. Cook is a registered civil engineer with more than 22 years of experience in water and wastewater system projects in both the public and private sectors. Prior to his appointment as general manager, Mr. Cook was the IRWD assistant general manager. Prior to joining IRWD, he served as the manager of engineering for the Central and West Basin Municipal Water Districts in Los Angeles County, where he was responsible for a $350 million, fiveyear capital improvements program that included one of the largest water recycling projects in the nation. Mr. Cook began his career in public service as the district engineer for Los Alisos Water District, and prior to that spent five years in the private sector working in the construction industry.

Mr. Cook received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Pacific in Stockton, California. He went on to earn a master’s degree in civil engineering from California State University, Long Beach, and a master of business administration from the University of California at Irvine. In 2002, he was elected to the board of the Orange County Water District, where he served through 2005, including a term as vice president.

Municipal Water Leader’s writer, Valentina Valenta, spoke with Mr. Cook about managing IRWD’s longstanding and extensive recycled water projects, the district’s leadership in shaping the policies that drive California’s innovative recycled water programs, and his successful efforts to continue balancing the competing demands for water between residential, commercial, and agricultural uses.

Valentina Valenta: Please tell us about IRWD, its history, and service area.

Paul Cook: Established in 1961 as an independent special district organized under the California Water District Code, IRWD provides high-quality drinking water, reliable sewage collection and treatment, groundbreaking recycled water programs, and environmentally sound urban runoff treatment to approximately 380,000 residents in central Orange County, California.

IRWD encompasses approximately 181 square miles extending from the Pacific Coast to the foothills and serves the city of Irvine and portions of Costa Mesa, Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange, Tustin, and unincorporated areas of Orange County.

IRWD is governed by a five-member, publicly elected board of directors responsible for the district’s policies and decisionmaking. The general manager and district staff supervise day-to-day operations.

Valentina Valenta: Your district is a recognized innovator in recycled water. Can you please tell us about your recycled water program and how much demand you are able to meet by reusing water?

Paul Cook: IRWD is a national leader in recycled water. The district’s long history of recycled water achievements began in 1963 when our forwardthinking board of directors implemented its vision to integrate water recycling into the overall design of our community. The goal was, and continues to be, to enhance our water supply reliability through a comprehensive recycled water program.

As a result, IRWD’s scope of services was expanded to include sewage collection and treatment services for the purpose of producing recycled water. The district began delivering recycled water to its agricultural customers within four years of its initial commitment.

Today, IRWD meets roughly 28 percent of the service area’s water demands with recycled water. Every gallon of recycled water used results in a gallon of drinking water that can be saved for potable users. Using recycled water extends drinking water supplies and reduces reliance on costly imported water, helping to Municipal Water Leader

improve water supply reliability.

On average, we deliver more than 23 million gallons of recycled water per day to more than 5,000 customers through more than 500 miles of pipelines. The dualdistribution system, which keeps recycled water completely separate from drinking water, uses easily recognized purple pipe to identify recycled water infrastructure. IRWD pioneered the use of purple piping, which has become the international symbol for recycled water.

Valentina Valenta: Please describe the Michelson Water Recycling Plant (MWRP), and tell us about the process of recycling.

Paul Cook: In 1967, IRWD’s MWRP began delivering approximately 2 million gallons per day (mgd) of tertiarytreated recycled water to agricultural users. By 2015, the MWRP facility was delivering more than 23 mgd. Planners estimate that when the IRWD service area reaches final build-out around 2025, a recycled water capacity of 33 mgd will be required to meet demands.

The MWRP facility treats sewage to a tertiary level, which results in an excellent quality of recycled water that is used for landscape and agricultural irrigation and for industrial and commercial needs.

To keep up with a growing demand for potable water and a decreasing imported water supply, IRWD adopted progressive water reuse and conservation standards and began ambitious capital improvement projects. The MWRP Phase 2 Expansion Project, which began in September 2009, increased the capacity of MWRP from approximately 18 mgd to 28 mgd. The expansion of MWRP included new influent trunk sewer lines, a headworks facility, primary clarifiers, a high-rate clarifier, electrical buildings, a membrane bioreactor facility, an ultraviolet disinfection

facility, and a masonry wall to protect the plant from San Diego Creek flooding. The project was completed in spring 2014.

The process of recycling water at MWRP is as follows: 1. Sewage from inside homes and businesses travels through sewer pipelines to the MWRP headworks facility, which includes three fine screens to remove debris and three grit chambers to remove sand, rocks, and grit.

2. Four new primary treatment sedimentation tanks, which remove organic solids from the sewage, will supplement five existing tanks. Primary influent flows slowly through the in-ground tanks, allowing suspended solids to settle to the bottom or float to the surface, where the solids are collected for disposal.

A new primary effluent pump station will direct flow to the existing secondary treatment process, the new membrane bioreactor, or the existing flow equalization basins (used for temporary storage to equalize daily flow variations).

3. The membrane bioreactor includes treatment basins with much higher concentrations of microbiology compared to the typical secondary treatment process. The membrane bioreactor also replaces the sedimentation tanks and filters with membrane filters. The result is high-quality water that can be disinfected without further treatment for reuse.

4. High-rate clarifiers are occasionally used to condition secondary-treated water prior to filtration in order to maximize the effectiveness and capacity of the filters. The high-rate clarifier uses coagulants and sand to bind suspended matter into larger and heavier particles that can be settled and collected. The sand is then cleaned and recycled within the system.

5. Conditioned secondary-treated water is further treated

San Joaquin Reservoir, one of the district's primary recycled water storage sites.

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in the existing dual-media filters to remove suspended solids particles and produce tertiary-treated water.

The water passes by gravity through an anthracite coal layer followed by a sand layer. Following this filtration, the water is disinfected with a sodium hypochlorite (bleach) in the upgraded chlorine contact tank.

6. The high-quality water produced by the new membrane bioreactor will be disinfected using ultraviolet light. The water flows by gravity in concrete channels past specially designed ultraviolet lights.

Valentina Valenta: What does it mean for water to be treated to tertiary standards, and how does that water differ in quality from water delivered as drinking water?

Paul Cook: Recycled sewage undergoes primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment at water reclamation plants. During primary treatment, large solids are removed.

Secondary treatment uses bacteria to remove approximately 90 to 95 percent of the remaining solids and uses a disinfectant, such as chlorine, to destroy bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens.

Tertiary-treated recycled water, often called title 22 water, can be used for a wide variety of nonpotable uses, including all types of irrigation, toilet flushing, and industrial processes.

IRWD produces and distributes disinfected, tertiary-treated recycled water.

Tertiary treatment is the treatment of sewage beyond the traditional secondary or biological stage; the term normally implies the removal of suspended solids and nutrients in order to meet recycled water standards for irrigation and industry. This treatment stage is done to increase the water quality of the final recycled water effluent.

Tertiary treatment can be accomplished by a variety of methods, including coagulation, sedimentation, filtration,

disinfection, or in some cases extending the secondary biological treatment to further stabilize nutrients.

To meet drinking water standards, recycled water must undergo additional advanced tertiary treatment methods, such as microfiltration, ultraviolet disinfection, reverse osmosis and any other processes established by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for drinking water.

Valentina Valenta: Please tell us about the uses of recycled water.

Paul Cook: IRWD’s customers use recycled water for • landscape irrigation in parks, golf courses, parkways, medians, school yards, freeway landscaping, homeowner’s association common areas, and large residential lots • irrigating agricultural sites • industrial applications, such as cooling towers, composting, and a concrete batch plant • toilet and urinal flushing in more than 60 dualplumbed buildings, including commercial sites and some schools

Valentina Valenta: One of the keystones needed to support success in recycling is a public policy framework that supports various uses. IRWD has taken the lead for policy innovation, and without that work, water recycling might have stalled long ago. Can you tell us about your work in policy reforms to support recycled water?

Paul Cook: Despite the enormous success IRWD has achieved with recycled water, there is still more we hope to do with our recycled water resources. IRWD advocates for state and federal policies that reflect the current scientific

Biomembrane tanks at the Michelson Water Reclamation Plant.

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Municipal Water Leader

understanding of the benefits of recycled water and the appropriate limits to its use. IRWD’s statewide efforts on recycled water policy have addressed the following: Indoor recycled water use. Assembly Bill (AB) 1406, successfully sponsored by IRWD in 2007, changed the California Water Code to allow recycled water to be used for indoor uses such as toilet flushing and cooling towers in multilevel condominium complexes.

California Plumbing Code. Senate Bill 283, successfully sponsored by IRWD in 2009, paved the way for the adoption of California Plumbing Code provisions, setting forth design standards for the safe plumbing of approved buildings with both potable and recycled water systems.

Water Recycling Act. In partnership with several water agency allies, IRWD co-sponsored AB 2398, which would have enacted the Water Recycling Act of 2012. In 2013, IRWD actively supported AB 803, which was sponsored by the California WateReuse Association. These bills sought to expand the use of recycled water in California by improving and streamlining the existing regulatory and permitting process for recycled water projects to reflect current scientific study and advances in treatment technology.

Valentina Valenta: IRWD is satisfying 25 percent of its total demand with recycled water. That’s an impressive achievement. What additional reforms are needed to raise this figure even higher?

Paul Cook: IRWD supports the expanded use of recycled water because it is an important component of California’s sustainable water future and economic strength.

However, the current regulatory and permitting framework for recycled water, established more than 20 years ago, can be an obstacle to developing cost-effective recycling projects.

Expanded use of recycled water and its acceptance as a resource requires several reforms, including • removing the association of recycled water as being defined as a waste, including addressing recycled water discharge requirements • updating titles 17 and 22, including relief of dualplumbed inspection and testing requirements • adopting a “fit-for-purpose” regulatory approach for recycled water • enacting more permissive advanced indirect and direct potable reuse regulations Valentina Valenta: What are IRWD’s greatest achievements over the last several years?

Paul Cook: IRWD is constantly seeking new ways to improve the services it provides to its customers, while simultaneously increasing the reliability, sustainability, and cost effectiveness of the services that it provides.

As mentioned previously, the recently completed project Municipal Water Leader

that expanded the treatment capacity at MWRP was important to expanding the district’s ability to treat sewage and produce recycled water. To put this increased capacity to good use, the district is continually looking for new opportunities to provide recycled water to residents and businesses in our service area.

IRWD is also well into the process of building two major facilities that will further increase water supply reliability and environmental sustainability throughout the region.

The Baker Water Treatment Plant is a regional project that will result in a 28-mgd drinking water treatment plant in the city of Lake Forest. The project will provide increased water supply reliability and improved water quality for Orange County, utilizing sustainable and efficient processes.

On the sustainability front, the Biosolids and Energy Recovery Facility is being constructed to integrate a state-ofthe-art organics handling system at the MWRP facility. The new plant will utilize byproducts of the sewage treatment process to provide biosolids processing, biogas management, and energy recovery systems that will make efficient and sustainable use of these locally generated renewable sources.

Another recent area of success for the district has been the addition of a water banking facility located in Kern County. Water banking allows the district to cost-effectively capture and store water in wet years for use during dry years and emergencies. Using a system of 500 acres of constructed groundwater recharge ponds, IRWD can store up to 50,000 acre-feet in the water bank and may recharge or recover up to 17,500 acre-feet in any single year. The banking program is designed to provide enough water to meet roughly 15 percent of IRWD customer water demand during critically dry years.

Finally, the district continues to make great strides in the area of water use efficiency. With one of the lowest residential per capita water demand rates in Southern California, IRWD has a long history of establishing innovative programs and policies that bring about sustained water conservation successes.

In early 2015, the State of California implemented statewide water use reduction mandates on all water purveyors, including IRWD. The district is required to reduce drinking water use in its service area by 16 percent by the end of February 2016. Through the month of December 2015, the district was ahead of schedule, having reduced water use by nearly 18 percent. While the district is optimistic that it will meet its state‑mandated water conservation target in February, the district will continue working with its customers in the coming year to save as much water as possible to further increase the water supply reliability in the IRWD service area.

More information about IRWD can be found on its websites at www.irwd.com and www.rightscapenow.com.

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ASSOCIATION PROFILE

Kelly Collins Western Coalition of Arid States

K

elly Collins is a senior water resource specialist with CDM Smith. She is a professional geologist in Arkansas, California, and Texas and is a board certified environmental scientist. She has a bachelor of science degree in geology from Humboldt State University, and a master of science degree in water resources from the University of New Mexico. She has 37 years of experience in planning and environmental permitting for state and local governments, primarily working for consulting firms in California and New Mexico. Ms. Colltins has been a member of the Western Coalition of Arid States (WESTCAS) for 16 years and was elected WESTCAS president in June 2015.

Municipal Water Leader’s writer, Valentina Valenta, spoke with Ms. Collins about the unique needs of the arid West, the importance of advancing both water quantity and quality issues, and what WESTCAS is doing to enhance and expand the tools used by municipal utilities to successfully meet the water resources needs of the western United States.

Valentina Valenta: For our readers who are not familiar with WESTCAS, please tell us about its history, membership, and goals.

Kelly Collins: WESTCAS has 75 current members in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Texas.

WESTCAS was established in 1992 by a group of utility managers who got together to discuss their concerns about the effects of regulation on their utilities. They believed that regulatory measures did not take into account the fact that the arid West has a unique ecosystem that requires a different kind of protection of both the quantity and quality of water supplies compared with areas of the country that normally get a lot of precipitation.

The first mission and primary focus of the group in the early 1990s was water quality—the utility managers sought to change the Clean Water Act. The group did not get a lot of traction on that effort, but they continued to work together to encourage the development of water programs and regulations that would ensure adequate supplies, as well as high-quality water, while also working to protect the environment for those living in arid regions.

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Valentina Valenta: Could you elaborate on WESTCAS’s current water supply and quality policy principles within the context of integrating all water uses?

Kelly Collins: The idea of integrating all the uses of water has evolved since WESTCAS was founded.

All our members recognize that we cannot have a water supply without protecting its quality. Similarly, high-quality water is not valuable if we don’t have an adequate supply. So, as an organization we have really evolved from our initial and primary focus on water quality regulations to water resources as a whole.

There is a strong recognition by our members that quality and quantity are integral to one another and cannot be separated.

Valentina Valenta: What makes the western United States special and how do these unique

characteristics guide WESTCAS in formulating policy goals? Can you please provide examples?

Kelly Collins: The arid West is different from the moister regions of the country. The arid West has many months during a given year with no rain at all. Annual precipitation is often less than 12 inches and comes in concentrated bursts.

There are various examples of how these unique characteristics affect the members of WESTCAS. One example can be found in whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing performed under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. WESTCAS was very engaged in the implementation of WET testing. WESTCAS did a lot to provide depth and breadth to dischargers’ knowledge with respect to test problems and pitfalls as well as possible actions that dischargers could take to secure more reliable results.

A second example can be found in the location of water supply in the West. Water supply in the West is not surface based; it is groundwater based.

Groundwater has higher concentrations of naturally occurring metals, such as chrome and arsenic.

WESTCAS has been very involved in setting the arsenic standard, providing comments, and getting engaged in developing the arsenic maximum contaminant level. Many of WESTCAS’s member utilities were significantly affected by the original standards, which reduced naturally occurring arsenic levels in the water to lower levels, and did not see a health benefit. The science did not support the nominal benefit of treating the water at a high cost. This was a big issue for WESTCAS during the setting of the arsenic maximum contaminant levels.

A third example can be found in exposed geology.

A lot of the West is composed of beautiful rocks and soil that don’t have any vegetation on them. So when it rains in the West, the soil is carried into the streams.

Soil in many parts of the country has naturally high concentrations of selenium. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently considering water quality criteria for selenium in streams. Many western streams flow through geologic units have high levels of naturally occurring selenium in them. WESTCAS has been involved in providing comments to the EPA regarding setting selenium standards for streams, particularly with respect to how those standards would apply to the West.

WESTCAS members have been disproportionately affected by the regulations. Generally speaking, when WESTCAS looks at issues it thinks are appropriate to become involved in, whether legislative or regulatory, we always ask ourselves if the matter disproportionately affects our members due to the nature of our arid climate.

Valentina Valenta: How important is climate change in setting the agenda for WESTCAS? Can you provide our readers with some examples of how you are integrating climate change into policy goals?

Kelly Collins: We are just getting started looking at how climate change affects our water resources, in terms of both quantity and quality. Some of our members have been looking at climate change effects on their systems for quite a while. For example, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) has done quite a bit of work using predictions and modeling to make its system more resilient. We rely on our members, like ABCWUA, to share their efforts and approaches to respond to the effects of climate change with other WESTCAS members at our meetings.

Valentina Valenta: Can you please tell us how WESTCAS approaches regulatory issues? Can you share success stories in this regard?

Kelly Collins: WESTCAS surveys its members about the issues they are currently facing and the issues that they anticipate facing in the future. Many of the issues facing our members are common among them, and if they are not experiencing those issues today, it is likely they will experience them in the future. We use the surveys to help set WESTCAS’s regulatory and legislative agenda.

Annually, during the month of February, WESTCAS holds a fly-in meeting for its members to examine and discuss the regulatory issues facing the utilities in the coming year. WESTCAS prioritizes the issues based on whether it might have a positive effect on how upcoming regulations and legislation are being developed. The goal is to ensure that policy is formulated to recognize arid West conditions.

Second, WESTCAS also works to mitigate potentially widespread effects to utilities resulting from rules and regulations such as the Clean Water Act rule. The way the rule was written caused concern among many members.

WESTCAS advocated strongly for its members during the commenting period of the rule.

A great example on the legislative side involves the Lacey Act and how invasive species like quagga mussels could threaten the water supply of much of the arid West. The Lacey Act prohibits the transportation of an invasive species listed in the act across state lines at any time and for any reason, including long-established water supply arrangements. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is considering designating quagga mussels as invasive under the Lacey Act. Although the idea is well intentioned—nobody wants to have quagga mussels in their water supply—it would create a serious problem for many of our members. This is because quagga mussels are already established throughout the Colorado River system from Colorado to Southern California. Multiple states are already transporting water across state lines that contain quagga mussels. If listed as an invasive species under the Lacey Act, and based on interpretation and enforcement of the law by the FWS in Texas, much of the water supply of the Colorado River could be interrupted with severe or even catastrophic consequences for many millions of people. Although we can’t declare victory on the Lacey Act issue yet, WESTCAS has been and will continue to be very active in helping lead the fight to preserve interstate water transfers from being halted by the Lacey Act, especially in cases like the quagga mussel in which the listed species is already widely established throughout a multistate area.

Valentina Valenta: Drought has been the big issue driver in the West in recent years. Please tell us about the drought policy that WESTCAS recommends at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels.

Kelly Collins: Our member states have experienced drought for the past 10 years, so one of WESTCAS’s goals is to promote the idea that all water is a resource.

WESTCAS advocates for advances in water reuse and recycling, including potable reuse. Water conservation is critical for all of our members as part of maintaining adequate water resources, but we know that conservation alone is not going to get us to a place where we can respond effectively to water demands. We need to be looking at reuse of our effluent and stormwater as well.

We are very focused on policy at the local level because our membership is largely composed of municipalities.

Municipalities are looking at how the drought affects their area’s water supply and how they can continue to meet increasing demand.

Valentina Valenta: Tell us about water supply and water quality as drivers of economic growth and development.

What does WESTCAS’s research suggest?

Kelly Collins: WESTCAS hasn’t done independent research on water supply and water quality as drivers of economic growth and development. However, water is seen as a limiting factor, especially by the public. For example, in the Albuquerque area, there was a proposed master plan for development that, if fully realized, would have effectively made the city New Mexico’s second or third largest. The public expressed concerns to county commissioners that there would not be enough water to accommodate the new development. In fact, the prevailing position in the West is that a community needs to be able to ensure a sustainable water supply before agreeing to any new growth. Unless there is water supply, and that water supply is of a quality that can be readily used or that can be treated economically to a quality that can be used, it will hamper development.

Valentina Valenta: What are WESTCAS’s biggest successes over the last several years?

Kelly Collins: As I mentioned earlier, WESTCAS has been successful on a number of issues over the years. But I think our greatest success has been raising awareness of the disproportionate regulatory burden in arid regions. Our work in both the regulatory and legislative arenas has been recognized for providing fact-based perspectives on water resource issues in the West. We have expanded our ability to communicate our perspectives through cooperative efforts with like-minded, water-related organizations. I think we have been successful in becoming the voice of water quality in the West.

Valentina Valenta: What should our decisionmakers know about WESTCAS? Kelly Collins: WESTCAS is a source of sound scientific reasoning and information about how regulations and legislative actions can disproportionately affect people in the arid West, even when those regulations and legislative initiatives are well meaning. We want to help our policymakers to understand the unique character of arid areas so that they can formulate laws and regulations that protect water resources while allowing for flexibility to accommodate arid area conditions.

Valentina Valenta: What would you tell someone who is interested in becoming a member of WESTCAS? Kelly Collins: WESTCAS will strengthen your voice as a resident, a municipality, and a provider of water and wastewater services in the arid West and will ensure that your voice is heard by decisionmakers on Capitol Hill.

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LEGISLATIVE PROFILE

Helping Make Every Drop Count in a Full Water Portfolio

34

By Congresswoman Grace Napolitano

W

ater is our most vital resource and is a topic of constant debate both in my home state of California and across the nation. Longterm drought, combined with increased population, will lead to water shortages resulting in stress to people, businesses, and ecosystems. Lack of water and mandatory restrictions in water use, in both the agricultural and urban areas, have led to the timehonored practice of pointing fingers at regulations, too many rules, lack of leadership, or environmental constraints. To say we need to make every drop count is more than a statement; it needs to become our mandate. Mother Nature has given us five years of drought, and scientists project less water for the Southwest in the future.

As the demand for water continues to increase, additional supplies need to be developed and sustainably managed. Urban and agricultural water users have to combine forces to ensure that a framework of wise water use occurs across the spectrum of management. From my position in Congress, I have watched the evolution of water policy and the continual reduction in critical appropriated federal funds. Today, the demand for water is forcing state and local governments to become fully engaged and resourceful in meeting existing and future water demand. My conclusion is that we must develop solutions, not Band-Aids, by working closely with local municipalities, the general public, utilities, and private investors to build common-sense, sustainable, and dependable water supplies. We must also educate and provide guidance to all users.

Developing a more sustainable water portfolio requires getting beyond the misguided belief that building more surface reservoirs, such as dams, will solve the problem. Local municipalities and water agencies have shown that a more dependable water supply must include a diverse portfolio of aquifer storage, water reuse, recycling, and stormwater capture.

Utilities see the common sense in making every drop count through innovative practice and policy. We in Southern California have led the way.

The Los Angeles County Sanitation District (LACSD) has been recycling water for over 53 years,

and today recycles approximately 165 million gallons per day (mgd). The Orange County Water District recently increased its water recycling ability from 70 to 100 mgd. In September, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced a plan to partner with LACSD and produce 168,000 acre-feet of recycled water per year.

I included a provision in the Water Resources and Reform Development Act of 2014, on behalf of the Southern California Water Replenishment District, the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District, and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, that requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to increase its stormwater capture abilities for more groundwater recharge. This led to the Corps’ improving its operations at Whittier Narrows and Prado Dams to capture an additional 22,000 acre-feet of water during storm events.

Water reuse and recycling requires real leadership.

In 1992, the U.S. Department of the Interior established the Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program to provide financial and technical Municipal Water Leader

Congresswomen Grace Napolitano attends the Rose Hills recycled water project ground-breaking ceremony.

assistance to local water agencies for the planning, design, and construction of water reclamation and reuse facilities, and to conduct research. It is estimated that the title XVI program has developed over 375,000 acre-feet of new water at a cost ranging from $300 to $1,300 per acre-foot.

The majority of these title XVI projects are already built and online, providing real, wet water within 24 months of initiation. For comparison, the proposed federal and state Temperance Flat reservoir in central California will have water available for contracting in the range of $1,500 to $1,900 per acre-foot and will take in excess of 20 years before first drop of real, wet water will be available, and then, only if Mother Nature provides snow in the Sierra Nevada for runoff into the rivers to fill that reservoir.

While water challenges exist, we do have the legislative and policy capacity to address expanding our water portfolios and meet the future water sustainability challenge. The question is what our collective response to water shortages and drought will be. We can either make the situation worse by continuing to develop aboveground reservoirs with 15 to 20 percent evaporation and groundwater overpumping, or we can expand the water portfolio, invest in sustainable solutions, and learn to live within our water limits.

For over a decade, I have supported four specific Municipal Water Leader

areas where we can find relief from our water deficits and provide a sustainable water future. These include (1) developing and expanding the use of water reuse and recycling; (2) capturing stormwater to recharge our aquifers; (3) supporting research on membrane technology, desalination, and energy efficiency; and (4) improving both agricultural and urban water conservation and efficiency.

The era of cheap and readily available water is over.

Today, we have to become smarter and more efficient with how we create, manage, and sustainably use our water resources. Water reuse, water recycling, and stormwater capture are the low-hanging fruit. Over the last 30 years, a piecemeal and minimally supportive initiative has been developed to promote recycling, reuse, and stormwater programs. In my opinion, there are several reasons for this: Small local projects typically do not attract national exposure, federal leadership and funding has been intermittent at best, and no coordinated effort between the federal agencies and states has occurred.

I believe that several current actions offer hope that water leadership will step up and take advantage of the confluence of opportunities.

• The continuing drought in the West is demanding new approaches to water. Appropriate locations and water availability restricts the development of 35

Congresswomen Grace Napolitano turning on the water valve of the water recycling project at Rose Hills.

traditional water resources. Innovative local and regional thinking is creating opportunities.

• Federal funding continues to diminish, and the cost of traditional water development is escalating. The era of large federal investments in regional and river basin projects has ended. With diminished federal funds to subsidize water development, the costs have to shift to water users (known as user pays), and those rates are far beyond affordability.

• There is increased support from the administration.

With the recent signing of the Paris Climate Accords, the White House has initiated a strategy to build a sustainable water future. Built into this strategy is support for municipal-level water recycling and reuse and storm water capture, and a recognition that energy and water go hand in hand.

• Diminishing federal funding, increasing water demand, and diminishing supplies have led to a dialog on creating investment vehicles for increased public-private development of water infrastructure, locally led water exchange agreements, and interconnected infrastructure.

I believe water reuse, recycling, and stormwater capture will emerge as viable and important elements 36

of a sustainable water portfolio. Water is critical to the economic well being of the United States. The ongoing drought in the West may be temporarily lifted if El Niño drops snow in the mountains, but that respite will be temporary as global climate warming and a growing population continue to affect the supply of water. Our responsibility in government, private industry, and academia is to develop the water leaders of tomorrow and provide the pathways for a sustainable water future.

We all are in this together, and together we can provide a sustainable water supply for the future.

Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-CA) was elected to Congress in 1998 and is currently serving her ninth term.

She represents several cities and communities in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County. Congresswoman Napolitano is the ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. She also serves on the House Committee on Natural Resources and has been a long-time supporter of policies that advance water conservation, recycling, desalination, and groundwater management.

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CLASSIFIED LISTINGS

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Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Freese and Nichols’ Oklahoma City office is currently searching for an experienced water/ wastewater engineer to lead teams on municipal utility infrastructure projects. Since opening our office in Oklahoma City in 2014, we have secured numerous projects and are continuing to build our client base. This position presents an opportunity to join our team of highly qualified technical experts and assist in the building of a strong regional presence for the firm.

Project management experience should include: • Client contact responsibilities • Project execution • Agency coordination • Proposal preparation • Project scheduling

Qualifications must include: • Bachelors or Masters degree in Civil Engineering • Current Oklahoma professional engineering license • 10+ years of experience in municipal utility design • 5+ years of progressive project management experience

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Qualified candidates are invited to apply online at www.freese.com/careers.

For information on posting to the Classified Listings, please e-mail Municipal.Water.Leader@WaterStrategies.com

Are you Advertising in Municipal Water Leader?

Join a growing group of public– and private–sector water able water resources in the 21st century resources leaders. If you have a Sustain product or service that would Municipal Water Leader is sent to approximately 12,000 be beneficial to municipal water suppliers and treatment organizations, including every municipal water provider providers, we invite you to advertise in Municipal Water and treatment facility with an annual budget or sales of Leader magazine. $10 million or greater, all 535 members of congress, the 50 governors, all 7,382 state legislators, key federal and The magazine is published 10 times a year, and includes a state agencies, 259 water-related trade associations, and Architecture Environmental Science Planning Program Management Energy Construction Services collection of articles fromEngineering top municipal water entities, as a variety of top construction and engineering firms well as editorials from policymakers across the country. throughout the country.

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2016 CALENDAR January 12–13 January 19–21 January 20–22 January 27–29 February 1–5

February 3–4 February 4–5 February 20–24 February 21–24 February 23–25 February 24–27 March 2–4 March 7–9 March 9 March 20–23 March 21–25 April 24–28

National Water Resources Association, Leadership Forum, Las Vegas, NV Idaho Water Users Association Annual Convention, Boise, ID U.S. Conference of Mayors, 84th Winter Meeting, Washington, DC Texas Ground Water Association, Annual Convention, San Marcos, TX American Water Works Association, Membrane Technology Conference and Exposition, San Antonio, TX Texas Water Conservation Association, Texas Water Day, Washington, DC Water Education Foundation, Water 101 Workshop, Sacramento, CA National Association of Counties, Legislative Conference, Washington, DC National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Winter Conference, San Diego, CA Association of California Water Agencies, DC2016 Conference, Washington, DC Water Environment Federation, Utility Management Conference, San Diego, CA Texas Water Conservation Association, Annual Convention, The Woodlands, TX National Waterways Conference, Legislative Summit, Washington DC Association of California Water Agencies, Legislative Symposium, Sacramento, CA Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Water Policy Conference, Washington, DC Western States Water Council, Spring 180th Council Meetings, Washington, DC National Association of County Engineers, Annual Conference, Tacoma, WA

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