Parsons was selected by the Orange County Water District (OCWD) to provide construction management services for the $128 million Initial Expansion of the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) in Fountain Valley, CA.
Scheduled for completion in 2014, this project will increase the treatment capacity of the GWRS by 31,000 acre-feet per year. GWRS, the largest advanced water treatment facility of its kind in the world, takes highly treated wastewater and purifies it through membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and advanced oxidation using ultraviolet light (UV) and hydrogen peroxide. Advanced oxidation processes like UV/peroxide produce a powerful oxidizing compound called the hydroxyl radical. Hydroxyl radicals are capable of destroying virtually all organic compounds found in water including dangerous micro pollutants from pharmaceuticals, personal care products and pesticides that may not be removed by other treatment processes.
This highly purified water will be percolated into OCWD’s groundwater basin to supplement its drinking water supplies as well as to augment the seawater intrusion barrier, which prevents seawater from contaminating the groundwater. The GWRS has a secondary benefit of reducing the amount of treated wastewater discharged to the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Huntington Beach.