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Envirogen Technologies announced recently that it has been contracted to provide a drinking water treatment system for Oasis Water Corp., a new privately owned water utility created to service the residents of Desert Oasis Mobile Home Park in Thermal, Calif. Desert Oasis is among the largest of several trailer parks located on the Torres-Martinez Indian Reservation in Riverside County that serve primarily migrant farm workers.

According to Orlando Carreño, Vice President, Western Region for Envirogen Technologies, the new water treatment system is a significant move toward improving conditions at the park and creating a better quality of life for the area population. "Envirogen Technologies is very pleased to be a part of this important step in infrastructure improvement for the Desert Oasis community," Carreño said. "The inhabitants and owners of the trailer parks in this region have had a hard road, striving for government acceptance and better living conditions in the face of considerable adversity. As the saying goes, where there's water, there's life. We look forward to bringing our considerable technology and expertise to bear on helping Oasis Water Corp. achieve its water treatment goals, thereby assuring park residents of a reliable, quality water supply – a basic human need," Carreño continued.

The Torres-Martinez Indian Reservation, home to the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian tribe, covers 24,000 acres in the Coachella Valley region near the Riverside-San Bernardino metro area and the Salton Sea. Growth of mobile home parks on the reservation burgeoned in the late 1990s. In recent years, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Indian Health Services have begun to scrutinize the parks due to a number of water quality, sewage handling and solid waste issues.

According to Scott Lawson, owner of Desert Oasis Mobile Home Park and a member of the Torres-Martinez tribe, he and other park owners are eager to better provide for residents' welfare but need to find ways to achieve these goals in an orderly and economically feasible manner. "Prior to the establishment of these parks, many of our residents were living in their cars or in the desert with no facilities whatsoever," said Lawson. "We've sought to provide services and a place to live for this important population of workers. With cooperative assistance from BIA and EPA, we can now plan to achieve a number of needed improvements for the future. Envirogen Technologies is an ideal partner for this effort, as it can help us develop a dependable, economical water treatment system that specifically addresses our needs and is backed up by a service guarantee," he added.

The Envirogen Technologies system, currently under construction, features coagulation-filtration technology using a proprietary media, which allows for higher throughput in a small footprint (the entire system covers a 10 x 20 foot area). It will remove source contaminants, primarily arsenic, to provide potable water to the park's 360 connections. While the well being treated is currently producing 260 gallons per minute (gpm), the system is sized for 300 gpm to handle fluctuating demand from the park's largely transient population, which is dependent on farm harvest schedules in the agriculturally rich region.

In addition, the Envirogen Technologies system is designed for 99.5% water recovery by re-injecting most of its backwash water for further treatment, minimizing the loss of available water to the waste stream. Operation is also made simpler and more economical because the system meets potable water standards in the treatment phase, eliminating the need for post-chlorination.

Under the agreement with Oasis Water Corp., Envirogen Technologies is amortizing the system purchase for a five-year period, during which time the company will provide technical support, routine and preventive maintenance, process chemicals, weekly service calls, 24/7 emergency response, and assistance with permitting and other interactions with regulatory agencies. These agencies include BIA, EPA, Indian Health Services and the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, all of which have closely monitored the project's progress. The contract guarantees treatment of arsenic not to exceed 6 micrograms per liter (µg/L) at full capacity flow. After fulfillment of the five-year agreement, Oasis Water Corp. will own the system and have an option to continue in a services agreement with Envirogen Technologies.

Scott Lawson hopes that the improvement signified by the new water treatment system can have more far-reaching effects for the community. "As we experience the benefits of this system, my hope is that it will serve as a catalyst for further infrastructure development here," he said. "We'll be actively exploring possibilities, such as making water surpluses available to neighboring communities, as well as assuming a leadership role in developing new opportunities for quality-of-life improvements with the long-term goal of building a healthy, vibrant community," Lawson concluded.

Carreño agrees that the new water treatment system should be a dynamic step forward for the mobile home parks. "Envirogen Technologies' stated mission has always been the delivery of ‘worry-free water' to all of our clients," Carreño said. "At Desert Oasis, we've seen many aspects of this mission – economy, water conservation, public health – come into sharp focus, and we're extremely proud to be part of the solution for this vital community of workers."

About Envirogen Technologies, Inc.
Headquartered in the Houston suburb of Kingwood, TX, Envirogen Technologies is a technology+services solutions provider that designs, builds and implements systems for business in municipal and industrial water and environmental treatment applications. A primary focus for Envirogen Technologies is the concept of ‘lifecycle performance,' in which the company provides guaranteed, pay-for-performance, long-term contracts at predictable costs that offer customers the lowest total cost over the lifetime of an equipment installation. Primary applications for Envirogen Technologies' systems include treatment of groundwater for the delivery of high-quality potable water, groundwater remediation, wastewater treatment, water re-use, nutrient removal, and odor and VOC control for municipal and industrial markets. In industrial markets such as mining, hydrocarbon processing and chemical processing, Envirogen Technologies also specializes in process water treatment, byproduct recovery and chemical purification. The company conducts business throughout the United States, with regional offices in Southern California, Illinois, New Jersey and Tennessee. For more information, visit www.envirogen.com.

SOURCE: Envirogen Technologies