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Santa Monica Water Facility Marks 2nd Year

 

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By Lookout Staff

November 13, 2024 -- Santa Monica's award-winning storm water harvesting and recycling facility, the first of its kind in California, will mark two years in operation Sunday.

Since opening on November 17, 2022, the $96 million Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (SWIP) has captured more than 50 million gallons of stormwater and urban runoff for reuse, City officials said Wednesday.

Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project
Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project (Courtesy Pacific Advanced Civil Engineering, Inc)

The facility, which is located beneath the Civic Center parking lot, also produces up to 1,680 acre-feet of high-quality purified water per year, or roughly 10 percent of the city’s demand, officials said.

“Santa Monica is on the forefront of implementing strategies for water resiliency,” said Sunny Wang, the City's water utilities manager.

“The SWIP is a prime example of how municipalities can take a holistic view of their water supply portfolio and develop innovative solutions."

The SWIP protects and improves water quality in the Santa Monica Bay by diverting stormwater and urban runoff away from the ocean and purifies enough water to support over 20 percent of the City’s population, officials said.

It also diversifies Santa Monica's water supply portfolio, reduces the City’s reliance on imported water and recharges its local groundwater supply "with a sustainable, drought resilient source."

The SWIP if the first stormwater harvesting project in California to meet potable reuse standards and directly inject the treated stormwater into the groundwater aquifer, City officials said.

It is also the State's first membrane bioreactor and cartridge filter system "to be granted pathogen removal credits for potable reuse applications."

In addition, it is California's first below-grade Advanced Water Treatment Facility (AWTF) "designed to treat raw wastewater and stormwater to groundwater recharge standards all within one facility."

Earlier this year, the SWIP won the National Water Environment Federation’s Project Excellence Award, as well as the Global Water Award’s 2024 Distinction Award for Water Reuse Project of the Year.


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