PALM DESERT, Calif., March 4, 2002 -- USFilter said it received a contract to provide the largest microfiltration plant in the world for the Orange County Water District (OCWD) and the Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) in Fountain Valley, Calif.
The $25 million Memcor® continuous microfiltration - submerged (CMF-S) system will be a crucial part of an advanced water reclamation project. The CMF-S system will draw secondary wastewater from the nearby sanitation district and inject it into deep groundwater aquifers to prevent seawater intrusion.
When the plant is commissioned in 2004, the 86.7-million gallon per day (mgd) unit will produce enough water to fill over 1000 Olympic size swimming pools everyday.
Located in an arid region where water resources are precious, the OCWD currently purchases imported water from the Colorado River and the State Water Project. The high costs associated with imported water, combined with an increasing population that is expected to reach 2.8 million by 2020, drove the OCWD to consider a more reliable, cost-effective water treatment system.
Tom Dawes, program director for the project, explained that the microfiltration system offered by USFilter would allow the district to effectively manage its water resources with little or no increase in cost. In addition, it can employ a new water source that is completely independent of the imported water.
"This is a big step for Orange County: high-quality, dependable water processed with half the energy that it takes to import the water. This is a big energy savings for California," said Dawes.
Based on a 25-year life cycle, USFilter's CMF-S system offered the lowest capital and operating costs evaluated by the district's consulting engineers. When asked why the OCWD chose USFilter's microfiltration equipment, Dawes explained that, "USFilter is the leader in the business."
"We tested every microfiltration system over the last six years, and we qualified USFilter as one of the suppliers that could meet our needs for the life cycle of the membranes. Then, we went into negotiations, and USFilter came out the winner," said Dawes.
In 1997, the water and sanitation districts of Orange County formed the Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) system, a joint project specifically created to purify highly treated secondary wastewater currently released into the ocean. The GWR System will process the wastewater through an intricate membrane treatment plant to be constructed on the Fountain Valley water campus, occupied by both Orange County's water district and sewer district. The treatment plant will include the CMF-S microfiltration unit, reverse osmosis system, and ultraviolet disinfection equipment, as well as supplementary pumping, power and chemical facilities.
USFilter's CMF-S system will purify the water to levels that surpass drinking water standards, and be injected into the local groundwater basin to prevent seawater intrusion. The remaining water not directly injected into the basin will be introduced into a groundwater aquifer through the district's Santa Ana River percolation basins, located in the cities of Anaheim and Orange.
In the fall of 2002, USFilter will begin its first stage of construction of a temporary CMF-S system that will process 6.7-mgd. This system will be incorporated into an 80-mgd permanent system that will produce a total of 86.7-mgd of microfiltered water. Currently, the OCWD employs an existing 8-mgd lime clarification system that serves as pretreatment to a reverse osmosis unit. The 6.7-mgd CMF-S unit will replace this existing system.
Dawes explained the significance of the new treatment plant. "The largest microfiltration plant in the world is going to make Orange County the world leader in water reclamation."
With the addition of the award for the GWR System, USFilter continues to be the leader in microfiltration and has developed a number of technologies as a result to help municipalities treat water and wastewater with membrane filtration. Technologies such as pretreatment, microfiltration and reverse osmosis for instance, help provide safe drinking water and water for reuse, recycle and recharge.
USFilter's cutting edge membrane technologies and research for products like the CMF-S help communities across the country provide cost-effective high quality water treatment. For example, commissioning is underway for a Memcor® CMF-S system at the Sandhurst Water Treatment Plant in Victoria, southeast Australia. This system will produce 33-mgd of drinking water for the Coliban Water Authority and when employed will be the largest microfiltration plant in the world.
USFilter, a Vivendi Environnement company, is North America's largest water company providing comprehensive water and wastewater systems and services to commercial, industrial, municipal and residential customers.
Vivendi Environnement (Paris Bourse: VIE and NYSE:VE), comprised of Vivendi Water (worldwide water products and services), Onyx (solid waste and industrial services), Dalkia (energy management), Connex (transportation and logistics) and FCC (Spanish company engaged in environmental and construction related industries), is the largest environmental services company in the world with more than 250,000 employees in about 100 countries and annual revenues of more than $25 billion. Visit the company's web sites at www.usfilter.com or www.vivendienvironnement-finance.com.
