Water is too precious to use just once. Pure Water AV can cost-effectively recycle cleaned wastewater and create a new drought-resilient water supply that will be stored in the ground for future use. Pure Water AV would help meet the needs of the region’s growing economy and population at a cost comparable to other new local water resources.
PROJECT
From Testing to Full Scale:
Palmdale Water Reclamation Plant – The Palmdale Water Reclamation Plant can clean wastewater to meet recycled water standards and distribute for non-potable uses such as irrigation and some industrial applications like cooling towers. Pure Water AV would take this recycled water and purify it another time before adding it back into the drinking water supply through injection into the groundwater basin where it will blend with the existing groundwater.
Demonstration Facility – PWD is breaking ground on its Pure Water AV Demonstration Facility in the summer of 2024. Once operational, PWD will conduct continuous testing at the facility for at least one year, which will provide significant data for regulatory approval of a full-scale water purification plant and program.
Advance Water Purification Facility – The full-scale facility will utilize the methods shown in the demonstration facility to produce up to 4.5 million gallons of purified water daily, enough to serve more than 14,500 homes annually. The project will also construct pipelines necessary to move water to and from each facility. Injection wells will be built to inject the purified water into the groundwater basin where advanced purified water will blend with the existing groundwater and be stored before it is added to the Palmdale water system.
Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Facility renderings.
Why Pure Water?
Pure Water AV is a project of the Palmdale Water District (PWD). PWD provides water to approximately 127,000 people throughout its 40-square-mile service area. PWD currently relies on three water sources, each with their own water management challenges and constraints.
Purified water will be a locally controlled, reliable, drought proof, and permanent source that would help provide water reliability and support the region’s long-term water supply.
The Advanced Water Purification Process:
Micro-Filtration (MF): A separation process that uses polypropylene hollow fibers, similar to straws, with tiny holes in the sides that are 0.2 micron in diameter (1/300 the diameter of a human hair). By drawing water through the holes into the center of the fibers, suspended solids, protozoa, bacteria, and some viruses are filtered out of the water.
Reverse Osmosis (RO): During the RO process, water is forced through the molecular structure of the membranes under high pressure, removing dissolved chemicals, viruses, and pharmaceuticals in the water. The end result is near-distilled-quality water so pure that minerals have to be added back in to stabilize the water.
Ultraviolet (UV) Light with Advanced Oxidation: Water is exposed to high-intensity UV light with hydrogen peroxide to disinfect and to destroy any trace organic compounds that may have passed through the reverse osmosis membranes.
Our Commitment to Health and Safety
Public health is our top priority. We have an independent panel of experts and scientists overseeing the project to ensure we are meeting all State and Federal drinking water standards. Scientists and engineers will continuously monitor and test the water produced at the Pure Water AV Demonstration Facility to ensure that it meets the highest water quality standards.
Continuous Testing
Independent Evaluation
Monitored by Regulators
The purification processes used at the facility will produce water that meets even higher standards of purity than bottled water.
Local Economic Benefits
During Construction:
- 269 New Local Jobs
- $80 Million Annual Economic Output
Long-Term:
- 20 Full Time Local Jobs Over 50 Years
- $9.3 Million Annual Economic Value
Our Partnership with Capture6
Through a partnership with Capture6, a carbon capture technology startup, Pure Water AV may become the first advanced water treatment plant to use cutting edge, direct air technology, providing PWD with an effective and beneficial brine disposal alternative.
Brine is a natural saline byproduct of the water purification process, and it must be properly disposed of so it does not get back into the existing drinking water supply. Capture6’s carbon capture technology would treat and clean the brine, generating byproducts that are then used to capture and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This transformative approach would eliminate the need for PWD to acquire, construct, maintain and operate about two miles of pipeline and 72 acres of evaporative ponds for the management of brine from a future commercial-scale facility.
Capture6’s brine treatment process could reduce PWD’s operational costs by 20-40% over the lifetime of the project. At commercial scale, this joint project could remove approximately 100,000 tons of atmospheric CO2 per year to help mitigate climate change.
This innovative pilot program could yield cost savings and environmental benefits for not only Palmdale, but many other inland communities also facing the challenge of brine disposal as they work to create new local water supplies.
For more information on Capture6, please visit www.capture6.org.
