FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., July 9, 2002 -- The Orange County Water District (OCWD) was recently awarded a two-year, $415,000 grant from the Department of Water Resources, through Proposition 13, to conduct research related to the advanced purification of municipal wastewater.
This grant is part of a larger $4 million grant awarded to the Desalination Research Innovation Partnership, a consortium of water agencies that includes OCWD, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, San Diego County Water Authority, West Basin Municipal Water District, Santa Clara Valley Water District, Alameda County Water District, Sonoma County Water Agency and the University of California.
Membrane water purification systems, the same used by many bottled water companies, are the future of water purification technologies around the globe.
As OCWD strives to meet the increasing water demands of north and central Orange County, membrane treatment systems will continue to play a major role in water purification and production.
OCWD's Water Resources and Technology (WRT) department will apply the Proposition 13 funding toward projects designed to support current and future water reuse programs.
These projects will help enhance membrane processes to ensure their efficient and cost-effective operation. Both microfiltration, a pretreatment system for water purification, and reverse osmosis, used by many bottled water companies to remove impurities from water, will be examined to study the fouling that results from purifying wastewater. Fouling is the deterioration of the membranes during their operation.
A long history of research has been maintained at OCWD to support the effective management of the groundwater basin, which provides 75 percent of the water used by 2.2 million people in north and central Orange County.
The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in 1933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.
