USFilter RO System To Desalinate Riverside County Water

Sun City, CA – USFilter has been awarded a $2 million contract to supply the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) with equipment for a 4.5-mgd reverse-osmosis (RO) treatment plant at EMWD's new Perris Basin Desalination Facility in Sun City, Calif. The $13.5 million facility, designed by CH2M HILL, will provide drinking water for 5,500 families in EMWD's service area.

The EMWD, located in the city of Perris, operates the fifth largest water district in the state of California. Over the last 14 years, the district's service area population has grown significantly from 340,000 to 530,000 residents. This, coupled with recurring drought, caused the District to consider alternate drinking water sources.

One of these options was desalination of brackish groundwater in the Perris sub-basin. Used as a source of agricultural water supply for generations, rising salinity has reduced or eliminated groundwater use in most of the basin. Desalination not only generates an additional supply of water, but also provides salinity management for the entire basin.

"Reverse osmosis was selected as the most cost-effective and operationally reliable form of treatment for the brackish groundwater targeted by the District," says Charlie Bachmann, assistant general manager, Engineering Branch of the EMWD.

Expected to become operational in January 2005, the system will treat groundwater containing up to 7,000 ppm of TDS. The treatment process will consist of scale inhibitor and acid feed, cartridge filtration, two 2.25-mgd low-pressure RO membrane systems, decarbonator for CO2 reduction followed by pH correction and disinfection of permeate.

The EMWD awarded the RO system supply contract to USFilter and the installation portion to CDM (headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.; local office in Hesperia, Calif.). Under the contract, USFilter will furnish the system consisting of cartridge filters, RO pumps, RO skids, decarbonators and a clean-in-place (CIP) system, to be installed by CDM.

EMWD serves a 555-square mile area from Moreno Valley to Temecula, and from Hemet and San Jacinto to Good Hope and Mead Valley. Approximately 530,000 people live and work in this area. In addition to its own water customers, EMWD supplements water to eight local water agencies and municipalities that have their own water departments. EMWD operates five water reclamation facilities and treats some 39 million gallons of wastewater daily.

Millions of people and thousands of companies rely on USFilter every day to help them meet their clean water needs. Headquartered in Palm Desert, Calif., USFilter (www.usfilter.com) is a $1 billion water company with 6,000 experienced professionals dedicated to delivering cost-effective, reliable water and wastewater treatment systems and services to municipal, industrial, commercial and institutional customers worldwide.

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Source: USFilter