Clean Water Challenges in Southern California
Water has been the key to the amazing growth we’ve experienced in Southern California ever since Mulholland completed his famous Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, bringing water from the Owens river into the Los Angeles basin. Nearly thirty years later, the Colorado River aqueduct threw the doors of our region’s expansion wide open in 1941. A third aqueduct brings water along a 444-mile-long passage that parallels I-5, from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to the Tehachapi Mountains, where it’s lifted 2,000 feet over the mountains and then split into a west brand and east branch and then carried to 13 Southern California water contractors.
Today, we enjoy a burgeoning metropolis which expands from the Mexican border and up the coast to Ventura, and then pushes eastward across the desert. Industrialization, climate, lifestyle, and immigration were the chief drivers. Ironically, these same issues, today, are straining our existing water infrastructure. Decisions about how we will continue to meet the region’s water needs will influence what happens in this region next.
A HIGH DEMAND FOR WATER
Although it’s easy to forget, amid the green, manicured golf courses, water parks, swimming pools, and lakes that decorate our public parks, Southern California is a desert. Without our water treatment and distribution network, this place would be unrecognizable. Water is shared by a number of eclectic and competing communities, including the people who live here, the farmers and ranchers who feed us, and the various industries that employ us.
Population
Our population is about 24 million people, about the same as New York, Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania, respectively. By 2050, this number will exceed 38 million (2.3% growth per year). This is appreciably faster growth than the entire state is predicted to achieve (.5%) as well as the nation (.3%).
We have our strong economy, attractive climate, and immigration to thank for this growth.
Agriculture
A wide array of water-intensive industries support our population. California produces almost all of the US’ almonds, apricots, dates, figs, kiwi fruit, nectarines, olives, pistachios, prunes, and walnuts. The state is also a leading producer of avocados, grapes, lemons, melons, peaches, plums, and strawberries. In the last ten years, California has single-handedly produced almost 75% of the nation’s annual production of fruit and nuts. This outsized share of the value of crop production comes from less than 4% of the country’s farmland acres, making cropland in California farms incredibly efficient and economically diverse – not just in the US but across the world.
Energy
The same water we drink and irrigate our crops with is subject to contamination by the multiple industries we depend on to support our modern lifestyles. Water plays a key role in energy production.
Thermal power plants (San Bernardino County, Aliso Canyon, Huntington Beach, and El Segundo) and the boilers that power our region all require water for cooling.
Oil and gas extraction and refining both consume water and produce byproducts that contaminate our aquifers. For instance, fracking is being done across California, including Kern, Los Angeles, Monterey, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Sutter, Kings, and Ventura counties. Carcinogenic chemicals, including methanol, benzene, naphthalene and trimethylbenzene are all byproducts of oil and gas extraction.
Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques (LA Basin, San Joaquin Valley), such as steam injection and waterflooding are also used to increase oil recovery. Like fracking, EOR comes with its own set of environmental baggage including groundwater contamination, induced seismicity, air pollution and habitat disruption.
Our water must be treated to be made potable and irrigable.
Other Industries
Aside from the energy industry, other businesses also contribute to the demand for treated water.
Southern California is home to over 22,000 manufacturing plants. Many of these are in water-intensive industries.
- Food and beverage processing: Water is important to the cleaning, processing, and cooling processes.
- Chemical production: Water is used for washing, rinsing, and cooling.
- Textile manufacturing: Water is used for dyeing, finishing, and washing fabrics.
- Mineral extraction: Gold, copper, and other minerals use water for processing and waste management.
- Hotels and resorts: Water is critical for landscaping, swimming pools, and guest amenities.
- Golf courses: Significant amounts of water are consumed for irrigation and maintenance.
- Data Centers
- Cooling systems: Data centers, which house servers and other computing equipment, rely on water-based cooling systems to maintain optimal operating temperatures.
Stressors on the Water Infrastructure
Water Districts Respond
The various water districts have announced expansion plans to keep pace with growing demand across the region. By district, these include:
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD)
Water Supply Reliability Project: This multi-billion-dollar project involves various upgrades to MWD’s infrastructure, including the construction of a new water treatment plant at Parker Dam and the expansion of existing facilities.
Colorado River Aqueduct Replacement Program: MWD is replacing aging pipelines and other infrastructure along the Colorado River Aqueduct to improve water delivery reliability and efficiency.
Western Municipal Water District
Pipeline Replacement Program: Western Municipal Water District is replacing aging pipelines to reduce water loss and improve system reliability.
Well Field Development: The district is exploring the development of new well fields to supplement its water supply.
Eastern Municipal Water District
Water Treatment Plant Upgrades: Eastern Municipal Water District is upgrading its existing water treatment plants to improve their efficiency and capacity.
Well Field Rehabilitation: The district is rehabilitating existing well fields to increase their water production capacity.
City of Riverside Municipal Water Department
Pipeline Rehabilitation: The city is rehabilitating aging pipelines to reduce water loss and improve water quality.
Well Field Development: Riverside is exploring the development of new well fields to supplement its water supply.
Newly Recognized Contaminants
Along with the other challenges we are simultaneously facing, new categories of water contaminants have come to light.
Other Contaminants
Increased media (traditional and social) coverage, a rise in public health incidents and an expansion of regulatory requirements have combined to raise public interest and scrutiny regarding water safety. Of these, the presence of PFAS has been detected all across California as well as much of the nation.
PFAS
PFAS compounds are a class of thousands of chemicals that provide consumer and industrial products with non-stick, waterproof, stain-resistant properties. Also known as PFOA, these chemicals were formerly used to make DuPont’s Teflon, and PFOS, formerly used in 3M’s Scotchgard. Drinking water consumed by approximately 200 million Americans may be contaminated with PFAS.
Many human health issues such as cancer, thyroid disease, and weakened childhood immunity have been linked with very low exposure to PFAS chemicals. The latest estimate is that up to 25 million Californians are or have been contaminated with PFAS, including people living in these Southern California communities.
New Technology for Clean Water
In response, water districts throughout Southern California and the nation are adding a multi-step PFAS filtration method to their overall water treatment process:
Pre-filtration: This step removes larger particles, such as dirt, sand, and other suspended solids, from the water.
Adsorption: This process involves the use of adsorbents, such as activated carbon or ion exchange resins, to capture PFAS molecules. These materials have a high affinity for PFAS and can effectively remove them from the water.
Membrane Filtration: This technology uses semipermeable membranes to physically separate PFAS from the water. Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration are common membrane filtration processes used for PFAS removal.
Granular Activated Carbon (GAC): GAC is a highly porous material that can adsorb a wide range of contaminants, including PFAS.
Ion Exchange: This process removes PFAS molecules from water by PFAS molecules with other ions.
Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs): Techniques like ozone treatment and ultraviolet light oxidation are examples of AOPs. They use powerful oxidants to break down PFAS molecules into smaller, less harmful compounds.
Typically, a combination of these components is involved in PFAS removal. Caliagua has been very active for several years in this regard, with major projects for the City of Tustin, and the City of Orange.
Climate Change
Longer droughts, rising sea levels, and increased evaporation rates are already impacting water quality. One example is the intrusion of saltwater into freshwater aquifers. Another is a change in how contaminants are distributed through the water supply.
Climate change poses a long-term sustainability challenge to the Colorado River Aqueduct. Drought and climate change-induced temperature increases will continue to accelerate evaporation from reservoirs, and melted snowpack. Rivers will run dry earlier in the season. Parched soil will also absorb precipitation before it even reaches rivers. This means a reduction in the amount of water available for agriculture, wildlife, and people. By 2050, all of the following are likely to occur:
- 10-30% flow reduction.
- Depletion of Lake Mead and Lake Powell to critically low levels.
- It’s likely that Southern California will be put on water allocation.
To continue to meet Southern California’s water needs, the water districts will continue to develop a range of responses, from increased public education to adoption of modern technologies, to developing new water models and contingency plans. Pure Water Southern California is one example of how recent technologies will increase the clean water yield of the Warren Facility by nearly 600%, for a daily yield of 150 million gallons of drinking water, by 2032.
To compensate, a range of other modern technology is under testing now and could be expanded in the future. Alternatives include:
- Microcatchment Rainwater Harvesting
- Desalination
- Water Recycling
- Condensate capture and atmospheric water harvesting
- Details are available in our April 2024 blog.
- Uncertainty of Future Energy Costs
Uncertainty of Future Energy Costs
Assuming relative calm, some experts are predicting that fossil fuel-based energy costs will remain stable into 2050. They may even decline. On the other hand, our experience with the wars in the Middle East and the Russia/ Ukraine conflict show that wars spike fuel costs. Let’s hope for peace.
Meanwhile, the cost of alternate energy sources is difficult to reliably predict because these are based on a number of factors including the adoption rate of renewable energy sources (solar and wind power), future advancements in new energy technologies such as nuclear fusion, and geopolitical stability.
Water treatment plants run on a combination of energy sources, depending on their location, size and when the plants were first commissioned. The most commonly used sources are electricity – for pumping, filtration, disinfection, and other processes – and natural gas -to power boilers and heaters. Renewable energy – solar, wind and biogas are growing in importance. MWD has installed solar panels in their water treatment plants, pumping stations, and administrative offices. IRWD is offsetting its carbon emissions through purchases of renewable energy credits from wind farms.
Should energy costs continue to rise, several events would likely follow:
Increased water rates: Higher operating costs would be passed on to customers.
Investment in Energy-Efficient Technologies: This could include upgrading pumps, installing solar panels, or implementing advanced control systems.
Future Regulatory Action
As populations rise and climate change continues to make clean water more scare, we’re likely to encounter increased regulation in the forms of:
Water Conservation: More stringent water conservation measures, such as mandatory restrictions on outdoor water use, may be implemented.
Water Reuse: Regulations could encourage the development and use of advanced water treatment technologies to treat wastewater for reuse.
Groundwater Management: Groundwater extraction may be subject to stricter regulations to protect aquifers and prevent overdraft.
Water Quality Standards: More stringent water quality standards may be implemented to protect public health and the environment.
Climate Adaptation: Regulations may require water agencies to develop plans to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as increasing water storage capacity or investing in drought-resistant infrastructure.
Of course, regulating is one thing. Compliance is another. Full compliance could be hampered by:
Implementation Costs: Adopting innovative technologies or infrastructure can be expensive, especially for smaller water agencies with limited budgets.
Technical Complexity: Some regulations may require specialized knowledge and expertise that may be difficult to acquire or maintain.
Uncertainty: The impacts of climate change and other factors can be difficult to predict, making it challenging to develop effective adaptation strategies.
Each agency or district will have to find their own path to adapting to this changing landscape, depending on factors like the size and resources of individual agencies, the specific regulations involved, and the availability of technological solutions.
CONCLUSION
This blog has laid out a number of major challenges that will have to be accomplished in the years ahead in order to maintain the high standard of living our community has come to expect from living in Southern California. We’re ready for the challenge and excited about the opportunities. Caliagua is inspired by a few thoughts from some noteworthy people:
“Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. If it were, everyone would do it.” Theodore Roosevelt
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Nelson Mandela
“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” John F. Kennedy
Across a span of 46 years, Caliagua has built a reputation for excellence by consistently rising to the occasion. When we commit to an owner on a project, we succeed. We’re ready for the challenges that lie ahead of us. If you’ve got a project, we’d love to talk about it. Please contact