Pure Water Southern California has entered a new phase. In recent months, engineering firms have been selected to oversee key aspects of the ambitious plan to design and construct a 150 mgd advanced purification facility for recycling wastewater that currently is discharged from the Los Angeles area to the Pacific Ocean. With an estimated price tag in the billions of dollars, the project is a key part of efforts to reduce Southern California’s dependence on imported water and increase resilience in the face of drought and climate change.

Formerly known as the Regional Recycled Water Program, Pure Water Southern California is a partnership of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the powerhouse entity that supplies water to 26 agencies in the region, and the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, which owns and operates 1,400 miles of collection systems, 49 pumping stations, and 11 wastewater treatment plants, including the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) in Carson, California. 

The JWPCP will provide the secondary treated effluent that is to be cleansed further at the advanced purification facility and then used to recharge groundwater basins, satisfy industrial water demands, and augment supplies at two of Metropolitan’s drinking water treatment facilities.

Joint venture on board

At its January 10 meeting, Metropolitan’s board approved an agreement with a joint venture comprising the infrastructure consulting firms AECOM and Brown and Caldwell to provide program management services for Pure Water Southern California. The agreement calls for an initial term of 3 years and an amount not to exceed $25 million, according to a summary provided by Metropolitan. Twenty local, small, and minority firms will support the joint venture. Funding for the agreement will come from an $80 million grant made to the project by the State of California.

“We’re excited to join Metropolitan to implement this innovative and critical program that marks a significant advancement in water reuse technology,” said Beverley Stinson, the chief executive of AECOM’s global water business, in an April 24 news release. 

The joint venture of AECOM and Brown and Caldwell “will play a central role in realizing the program, delivering environmental compliance efforts, the design and construction of advanced purification facilities at the Sanitation Districts’ Joint Water Pollution Control Plant wastewater treatment facility, around 60 miles of large diameter water pipeline infrastructure, and pump stations,” according to AECOM’s release. “The joint venture will provide a comprehensive suite of services, including program and project management support; program administration, controls, and reporting; engineering; design; quality assurance and control; and risk assessment and management.”

“We applaud Metropolitan and the Sanitation Districts for its unwavering commitment to strengthening water supply resiliency,” said Rich D’Amato, Brown and Caldwell’s chief executive officer, in the release. “The AECOM-BC Team is proud to support this landmark program which represents a leap forward in water recycling technology and innovation for the benefit of communities for generations to come throughout the Colorado River Basin.”

Ongoing testing continues

Current plans call for Pure Water Southern California to use a 3-step purification process involving membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection and advanced oxidation. To test this process, Metropolitan and the Sanitation Districts have been operating a 500,000 gal/d advanced water treatment demonstration facility on the grounds of the JWPCP since 2019.

In 2021, Metropolitan selected CDM Smith, Inc., to conduct engineering services for support of engineering and technical studies at the demonstration facility. Such services, according to the summary from Metropolitan, have included:

• operating the facility to test advanced water purification technologies

• executing the testing and monitoring plan for secondary MBR (sMBR) treating primary effluent from the JWPCP

• training Metropolitan operations staff

• developing engineering design and operating criteria for a full-scale facility, and

• preparing documents for regulatory approval and program permitting.

At its January 10 meeting, Metropolitan’s board authorized an increase of $950,000 to an existing agreement with CDM Smith, for a not-to-exceed total of $3.7 million “for operations and testing activities to support ongoing engineering and technical studies at the demonstration plant,” according to the summary.

The amendment to the agreement with CDM Smith was needed “to ensure that the consultant can continue to support the overall operations, maintenance, and testing activities at the demonstration plant for the current testing of the sMBR process,” the summary states. 

“Transitioning from the previous tertiary MBR (tMBR) to the sMBR testing phase required substantial equipment and programming changes needed for the sMBR process train, including critical process, water quality, and chemical feed systems,” according to the summary. “The sMBR pretesting period was extended to ensure a stable biological process and proper functioning of equipment and instrumentation. Testing of the sMBR process and preparation of associated reports is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.” 

Conveyance system contracts

More recently, Metropolitan has brought on board engineering firms to begin design work on segments of the project’s extensive conveyance system. At its March 14 meeting, Metropolitan’s board authorized a professional services agreement with Black & Veatch for preliminary design of Reach 1 of the conveyance system through the city of Carson, according to a summary from Metropolitan. The agreement was approved for an amount not to exceed $8 million.

Approximately 6 miles long, Reach 1 begins at the new advanced water purification facility at the JWPCP and continues eastward and northward through the city of Carson. The reach will consist of 84-inch diameter pipeline.

“Black and Veatch’s and Metropolitan’s effort may follow a compressed schedule to meet early delivery targets and complete construction prior to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,” according to an April 25 news release from Black and Veatch.

At the same meeting, Metropolitan’s board authorized a professional services agreement, for an amount not to exceed $9 million, with HDR Engineering, Inc., for preliminary design of Reach 2 of the conveyance system. Approximately 8 miles long, Reach 2 continues from Reach 1 eastward and northward through the cities of Long Beach and Lakewood.

Preliminary design for Reach 1 of the conveyance system is scheduled for completion this December, according to Metropolitan’s summary. Completion of preliminary design for Reach 2 is anticipated to occur in June 2024.

Delivery dates

Metropolitan plans to complete a draft environmental impact report for the Pure Water Southern California project during the first quarter of 2024, according to the organization’s website. Final certification of the environmental impact report is expected to occur in fall 2024.

“Our plan is to have early deliveries of water from the program by 2028, with full scale production by 2032,” says Maritza Fairfield, a Metropolitan spokesperson. 

The anticipated total cost of the massive project is undergoing revision. “We’re in the process of developing a revised cost estimate for the program and should have more information in the coming months,” Fairfield says. “We last completed a cost estimate in 2018. At that time, the project was estimated to cost $3.4 billion. Since then, inflation has been on the rise and the scope of the project has also increased. The new cost estimate, when complete, will provide a more accurate estimate of the project cost.”

At its March meeting, Metropolitan’s board also authorized the agency to apply for a $5 million grant for the project from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART funding program.