The Santa Paula (Calif.) Water Recycling Facility is exceeding expectations–the facility's power consumption costs for the first five months of operation are more than 35% lower than expected. Initially anticipated to create a 15% savings as a result of PERC Water Corp.'s investment in energy saving technology, the facility began full compliant operation seven months ahead of the state's mandated Dec. 15, 2010, deadline and has used more than 35% less power than originally expected. As a result of the energy saving measures employed at the Santa Paula facility, PERC Water was awarded the 2009 Sustainability and Resource Protection Award by the Environmental Business Journal and a grant through Southern California Edison's "Savings by Design" program to help fund the energy saving technology.
The majority of the treatment process takes place in tanks beneath the professional operation buildings, making the facility virtually odorless and noiseless with no negative impact on the surrounding community. As a result of this innovative design, the entire facility sits on less than 2 acres of land. A cascading waterfall and duck pond in the front of the facility is used as storm water runoff storage, and future plans for the facility include solar power integration for even more power consumption savings. The water produced by the facility is higher quality than the state's quality requirements and is available for reuse within the community.
The facility also can be accessed and controlled wirelessly from anywhere in the world on an iPad, iPhone or smart phone through Central PERK, a web application where all the current and historical data necessary to operate and manage water and wastewater infrastructure is centrally hosted and integrated within one platform.
The city of Santa Paula was mandated by the state to replace its 70-year-old facility because it had reached the end of its useful life and accrued more than $8 million dollars in compliance-related fines. In May 2008, it awarded Santa Paula Water LLC, a partnership of PERC Water and Alinda Capital Partners, the design-build-operate-finance contract. PERC Water designed and built the facility and will operate it until 2040.
Source: PERC Water
