Impacted Groundwater to Drinking Water: Large Potable End Use Groundwater Remediation System Design & Permitting

In drought stricken areas such as the southwestern United States, where populations are predicted to continue to increase significantly for decades to come, the scarcity of available drinking water is an ever-growing threat. Today in California, heavy fees are imposed on impacted groundwater that is extracted and not used as drinking water or restored and reinjected into the aquifer. This session will present the current design and permitting requirements associated with a 2,000 gallon per minute groundwater extraction and treatment system (GETS) in California. The GETS will remediate several contaminants by utilizing a complex interaction of treatment technologies including granular activated carbon for VOCs, ion exchange resin for perchlorate, advanced oxidation for 1,4-dioxane and reverse osmosis for treatment of total dissolved solids and selenium. In addition to cleaning up impacted groundwater, the GETS will serve as a valuable new potable water supply that will decrease the region’s reliance on imported water. Due to the site’s location and the end use of the GETS, numerous local, state and federal permitting requirements are associated with the system design, construction and operation of the system including permitting under the California Division of Drinking Water’s 97-005 Policy. The extensive 97-005 permitting process is required due to the end-use of the GETS as potable water.

This presentation will then discuss where and why drinking water end uses for impacted groundwater are applicable to urban areas. It will touch upon what specific interests should be considered with respect to reclaimed groundwater, whether state-specific regulatory guidance should be developed and what we can learn from the associated policy implemented by California.