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Representatives of the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD), East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), and the city of Pleasanton congregated earlier this week to kick-off the beginning of an 18-month construction project to expand the Jeffrey G. Hansen Water Recycling Plant in Pleasanton. The expansion is anticipated to increase local water recycling capacity by 70 percent.
The two districts and the city were joined by state and congressional leaders of the Tri-Valley region, and representatives of 11 other public agencies in the celebration. Addressing the crowd, Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold, president of the DSRSD-EBMUD Recycled Water Authority (DERWA) acknowledged the need for the plant’s expansion saying, “With California’s extreme drought fresh in our memory, it has never been clearer that recycled water is an essential part of our water supply.”
The original recycling plant – and its distribution system of reservoirs, pumps and light purple pipes – was a partnership between DSRSD and EBMUD; the city of Pleasanton joined the partnership in 2014. The three agencies will now share in the $18.2 million project to expand the plant in proportion to anticipated customer demand: DSRSD will receive 46 percent and EBMUD and Pleasanton each accounting for 27 percent. DSRSD’s regional wastewater treatment plant next door to the water recycling plant provides the effluent to make irrigation water.
“By investing further in water recycling, we’re sending a message to the rest of California. The drought is never over, we just have brief interludes of rain between droughts,” said EBMUD Director Frank Mellon, who also serves on the board of DERWA. DERWA governs the recycling partnership known as the San Ramon Valley Recycled Water Program.
Other speakers at the celebration highlighted various benefits of the expansion project. Tim Sbranti, local district director for Congressman Eric Swalwell, praised the Tri-Valley’s leaders for having the vision to diversify the region’s water supply.
“This public-public partnership is government at its best,” said Sbranti.
DSRSD Board President Richard Halket praised those assembled saying, “Today, we’re not only celebrating improvements that will recycle water more efficiently, we’re also highlighting our commitment to making our water supply more reliable. Wastewater is no longer a waste product; it’s a valuable resource.
The existing water recycling plant has produced more than nine billion gallons of irrigation water from wastewater since 2006. Peak summer demand for the plant’s recycled water is expected to keep growing, from 8.6 million gallons a day last year to 16.1 million gallons a day by 2020. Both the cities of Dublin and Pleasanton use the recycled water at city parks and other municipal sites.
