Black & Veatch, a global engineering, construction and consulting company, is under contract with the Rialto-based West Valley Water District (formerly West San Bernardino County Water District) to provide pretreatment design in addition to design and implementation of what is believed to be the first application of ultraviolet light for potable water disinfection in Southern California.
Black & Veatch is providing design, regulatory validation and construction-related services for the expansion and upgrade of the Oliver P. Roemer Water Filtration Facility (WFF).
The plant expansion and addition of UV disinfection will increase treatment capacity of the Roemer facility from 9.6 to 14.4 mgd, enhance the district's ability to effectively treat a full range of blends from two surface sources of raw water, and yield treated water in compliance with all current and foreseeable future drinking water standards. The pretreatment facilities will include coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation along with associated chemical storage and feed facilities.
The Long-Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, scheduled for promulgation in November 2003, is expected to include Cryptosporidium inactivation/removal requirements for surface water supplies. According to Bob Hulsey, a disinfection technology specialist with Black & Veatch who is currently involved in two UV-related research projects for the American Water Works Association Research Foundation, anticipation of that rule has spurred increased interest in UV disinfection.
The application of UV technology for disinfection of surface water is relatively new, and federal regulatory standards for the use of UV for potable water disinfection have not been established.
