San Diego Pure Water Program

Trussell is part of consulting team including Stantec and Brown and Caldwell that is working with the City of San Diego to implement the Pure Water Program. The short-term goal of the Pure Water Program is to develop a 30-mgd potable reuse facility, the North City Pure Water Facility (NCPWF). The long-term goal is for one-third of San Diego’s drinking water supply (83 mgd) to be purified potable reuse water.

Trussell was first contracted by the City of San Diego to operate a 1.5 mgd Demonstration Pure Water Facility in 2014. Trussell led the design-build of the ozonation and biologically active carbon (BAC) system that was installed upstream of the existing membrane filtration (MF), reverse osmosis (RO), and ultraviolet light advanced oxidation system (UV AOP). The five years of operating experience at this facility provided Trussell with valuable design and operational knowledge that positively impacted the full-scale design through streamlining regulatory approval, process optimization, and cost reductions.

For the full-scale facility, Trussell was the process lead for the predesign stage. Trussell led the 10% and 30% process design efforts for the ozonation, BAC, MF, RO, UV AOP with sodium hypochlorite, and post-treatment stabilization systems. Trussell then led the process aspects of the pre-qualification and pre-selection for major capital equipment purchases including MF, RO, and UV AOP.

In addition to being involved in the design, Trussell is leading the permitting effort for this project including providing regulatory guidance for California’s first surface water augmentation (SWA) project. Trussell also contributed to the development and approval of the Title 22 Engineering Report for California’s Division of Drinking Water (DDW). As part of this report, Trussell developed a novel strategy for maximizing pathogen log reduction credits from the RO system that DDW approved. After approval of the Engineering Report, Trussell supported the review and negotiation of the WDR/WRR Permit requirements and is now leading the development of the Operation Optimization Plan for DDW.

Although the San Diego Pure Water Program is an SWA project, the NCPWF has also served as a foundation for the State’s DPR Expert Panel with respect to public health goals, treatment redundancy and reliability, and critical control points – Trussell has been part of this process to influence and shape the future of potable reuse in California.