PALMDALE — As the Palmdale Water District proceeds with plans for an advanced water treatment plant that would turn recycled water into groundwater, the project has a new name and logo for residents to identify it.

The project, under the auspices of the Palmdale Recycled Water Authority, is now known as Pure Water Antelope Valley.

“We wanted recognition with other projects,” Engineering Manager Scott Rogers said.

The project will treat recycled water — provided by the Authority, a joint powers authority with PWD and the City of Palmdale — to a very high level, then inject it into the underground aquifer to bolster local water supplies.

When fully operational, this system can process 5,325 acre-feet of recycled water per year, at a cost of $1,710 per acre-foot, per year.

This compares favorably to the purple pipe program — using recycled water for irrigation — which could use 1,725 acre-feet per year, at a cost of $2,600 per acre-feet, per year and an earlier proposal to treat the recycled water and allow it to percolate to the basin below that could use 4,000 acre-feet per year at a cost of $3,160 per acre-foot, per year.

An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons.

The branding is part of the outreach effort with this project, in order to ensure residents and water customers understand the process that is expected to help ensure water resources for the future.

The planned demonstration facility will also be part of the outreach and education. This facility will walk people through the entire advanced water treatment process, culminating in a tasting area where they will sample the end product — water that’s safe and suitable for drinking.

This facility is planned for a site just east of Palmdale Water District’s administrative offices on Avenue Q. In addition to the working components of the advanced treatment system, the 5,490-square-foot facility will include a community room for educational purposes and other community functions, as well as an outdoor courtyard.

The demonstration facility is not only important for educating the public, it will provide the data necessary for the regulatory permitting required for the full-scale treatment plant, Rogers said.

Pure Water AV is “still in the initial stages of planning,” he said.

According to the project timeline, construction on the demonstration facility is expected to begin next year and be in operation at the end of 2024.

With data from the demonstration facility, the full-scale plant could begin construction in 2025, becoming operational in late 2027.

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Originally Appeared Here