Plant helps keep bay clean, boosts water supply

The East Bay Municipal Utility District supplies drinking water for portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California.

The district’s long-term water supply plan identifies reclamation of waste water as a feasible alternative to providing new water supplies. The plan includes reclaiming up to 15 mgd of treated wastewater. The North Richmond Water Reclamation Plant is one of the reclamation projects the district has implemented.

The $31 million plant is one of the nations largest industrial use projects, and, when compared with the $1,000$2,000 per-acre-foot costs to develop new potable drinking water services, the project is a cost effective — $800 per-acre-foot — solution to meeting drinking water demand.

The reclamation plant receives more than five mgd of secondary treated wastewater from the West County Wastewater District (WCWD) and reclaims the water for use in cooling towers at the local Chevron USA refinery.

The WCWD reclaims enough drinking water to supply 20,000 households while reducing treated wastewater discharged to the San Francisco Bay.

From a technical standpoint, the project was unique. In California, reclaimed water use is strictly regulated to avoid public health risks. Stringent standards for reclaimed water quality, monitoring, reporting and treatment reliability are enforced by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, and the Richmond reclamation plant meets these board standards.

WCWD previously discharged all its secondary treated wastewater into the San Francisco Bay. Today, most of this wastewater is reclaimed at the North Richmond Plant, where after treatment, it is pumped to the refinery’s cooling towers for use as a coolant in the oil refining process.

Other communities have adapted the project to fit individual needs.

For instance, in Southern California, leaders of the West Basin Project modeled its design on the North Richmond project using similar softening technology, chemical feed systems and dewatering facilities.

The plant was funded largely through a low-interest state revolving loan. In addition to saving the community money, the new source of water is not controversial, thus, it is not prone to derailment. This means that reclamation projects can more easily be implemented on schedule and within budget.

Preliminary design and pilot testing began in 1989. The project was completed and placed in operation within six years, faster than it would have taken to develop similar sized water supply projects.

The $31 million budget of the project was established during design. Even though the construction duration has been extended, the District managed to maintain project costs within budget.

Significant mitigation measures were developed that addressed the community’s concerns with plant aesthetics, and the community was involved in determining architectural features, landscaping and other aesthetic aspects of the project.

For example, it was important that the tank colors blend in with the surroundings and that fast-growing trees were planted to provide a visual screen between the plant and an adjacent, well-traveled thoroughfare.

The North Richmond Plant meets the district’s goals of providing water and minimizing environmental impact. The 5.4 mgd of wastewater previously discharged into the bay are now treated for reuse, both reducing the amount of pollutants going into the bay and freeing up drinking water for the growing communities served by the district.