California’s Orange County Water District (OCWD) and the city of Orange have begun operating four treatment plants to remove per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from local well water.
Construction of the Orange facilities took about a year to complete and are among 36 PFAS treatment facilities being designed and constructed in Orange County over the next two years. OCWD is funding 100 percent of design and construction costs and 50 percent of operation and maintenance costs for all facilities.
Using an ion exchange treatment system made of highly porous resin that acts like powerful magnets that adsorb and hold onto contaminants, the facilities can treat up to 7,500 gallons of water per minute combined — which is roughly 10.8 million gallons daily. During treatment, contaminants such as PFAS are removed from the water before it goes into the distribution system.
“OCWD’s committed staff works tirelessly to address PFAS in the Orange County Groundwater Basin,” says OCWD Director Denis Bilodeau. “Thanks to the strong partnerships with our retail providers, Orange County’s water supply remains among the highest quality in the nation. I commend our staff for working closely with the city of Orange to quickly and successfully complete these facilities.”
Due to their prolonged use, PFAS are being detected in water sources throughout the United States, including the Orange County Groundwater Basin, which supplies 77 percent of the water supply to 2.5 million people in north and central Orange County.
Orange, one of 19 water providers that pump water from the groundwater basin, had eight of its groundwater wells impacted by PFAS, prompting it to temporarily shut down those wells and transition to purchasing imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California. These wells are among dozens of wells throughout Orange County that were removed from service in 2020 after the state of California lowered the Response Level advisories of PFOA and PFOS — two legacy PFAS compounds no longer produced in the United States.
OCWD and 10 Orange County public water agencies filed a lawsuit against the manufacturers of PFAS, seeking to protect ratepayers and ensure that the associated costs, including but not limited to treatment and replacement water, are borne by the companies that developed and manufactured PFAS.
