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Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California — the regional wholesaler delivering water to 26-member public agencies and some 19 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties – announced on Wednesday that its board of directors has issued the final approvals necessary to provide $3.5 million for 15 pilot projects and technical studies. The studies are aimed at reducing the technical and regulatory barriers for various seawater desalination, groundwater enhancement and stormwater and recycled water projects.
Eleven MWD member agencies have received a minimum of $34,500, and up to a maximum of $500,000, from Metropolitan’s Future Supply Actions (FSA) Funding Program. The FSA program is part of MWD’s Integrated Resources Plan, a comprehensive roadmap to expand and diversify the region’s water supply portfolio.
MWD invited its member agencies to submit proposals last August requesting up to $500,000 of funding for the specified pilot projects and technical studies. MWD staff and independent experts evaluated the proposals based on how projects could help increase the potential for development of local water supplies and provide regional benefits as well as the effectiveness of proposed costs, schedules and work plans.
MWD Chairwoman Gloria Gray, who was sworn into her new role as chairwoman on Tuesday, spoke to the need of the recently authorized MWD funds saying, “The status quo is never good enough, not when we have the responsibility of ensuring Southern California has access to a reliable water supply today and into the future. We are constantly looking for opportunities to develop additional water resources.”
This is the second round of funding provided through Metropolitan’s FSA program. The first round of FSA funds in 2013 provided some $3 million for 13 technical studies and pilot projects. The funded projects and their participating agencies presented their projects and results in a culmination conference.
“The FSA program is key to helping us address an uncertain water future,” said MWD General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. “By investing in studies by our member agency partners, we’re increasing the knowledge and data available throughout the region, helping us all make more informed decisions about the potential for new water resource programs in Southern California.”
When combined with matching funds from the MWD member agencies, and other local, state and federal resources, the second round of FSA funds and the awarded projects will be infused with an additional $8 million. Selected projects for the most recent round of funds includes the following:
City of Anaheim: $200,000 for Regional Assessment of Stormwater Capture, Treatment, and Infiltration for Groundwater Enhancement
Calleguas MWD: $120,000 for Arroyo Las Posas Stormwater Diversion Feasibility Study and Percolation Test
Calleguas MWD: $292,800 for Los Robles Golf Course Groundwater Utilization Pilot Study Groundwater
Eastern MWD: $500,000 for Purified Water Replenishment Brine Concentration Pilot Project Recycled Water
City of Fullerton: $150,000 for Demonstrating Virus Log Removal for Potable Reuse to Increase Regulatory Confidence
Los Angeles DWP: $500,000 for Pilot Study of Nitrification-Denitrification Membrane Bioreactor Treatment at Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant
Las Virgenes MWD: $339,500 for Phase 2 White Paper: Tapping into Available Capacity in Existing Infrastructure to Create Water Supply and Water Quality Solutions
$34,575 for Application of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to Advanced Water Treatment Facilities for Indirect Potable Reuse Recycled Water
City of Long Beach: $350,000 for Los Angeles River Demonstration Treatment Plant – Phase 2A
MWD-Orange County: $205,754 for Smart Watershed Network
City of Santa Ana: $122,796 for Restoration of Local Recharge Sources from Invasive Dreissenid Mussels
San Diego County Water Authority: $80,000 for Demonstration of Preformed Chloramines for Biofouling Control and California Toxics Rule Compliance
$175,000 for Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant Wedge Wire Screen Demonstration Project
$245,000 for Multi-Jurisdictional Optimization of Surface and Groundwater Supplies in the San Dieguito River Watershed
West Basin MWD: $190,000 Development of a Modeling Tool for the Evaluation of Brine Diffuser Shear Mortality
