On Saturday January 10th SurfriderSD organized a tour of the Orange County Water District’s (OCWD) Groundwater Replenishment System (GWR) in Fountain Valley. The GWR System takes highly treated sewer water from the OC Sanitation Dept. (next door) that would be sent to the ocean and purifies it to near-distilled quality water.
I was really impressed with the facility in general, the whole operation had a modern, clean and efficient feel to it. Shivaji Deshmukh is the GWR System Program Manager and lead us on the tour. Thanks for taking the time to host a Saturday tour, we had over a dozen people there and everyone seemed to walk away impressed. Thanks also to Jared for organizing everything.
The purification process is pretty simple in theory and the resulting water is so pure that minerals need to be added back so it does not corrode pipes. One concern has always been with endocrine disruptors/gender benders. The reverse osmosis process filters out just about every organic and inorganic compound. Anything small enough to slip through the RO membrane gets zapped away in the ultraviolet (UV) light process with hydrogen peroxide.
For more details on the purification process, info on the OCWD and the GWR System visit www.gwrsystem.com and Click Here for more photos from the tour.