Transcript No Slide Title - San Diego MESA Alliance

Water, Our Most Precious Resource
NSF Grant #:
0653277
Supplementing and Protecting Our Water Supply
Presented by: KhristinaRae Hernandez, Lara Barrett, and Adam Taylor
San Diego City College MESA/NSF
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Mentors: Ramil Arroyo - Civil Engineer, Greg Cross - Civil Engineer, and Karen Franz - Coastkeeper Water Monitoring Program Coordinator
Below: “Purple Pipes” pumping recycled water.
Introduction
About the City of San Diego
Water Department:
The City of San Diego Water Department is committed to
providing customers with safe, high-quality, reliable water
service. Through the use of long-range planning, innovative
cost-saving measures and cutting-edge technology, the
Water Department is working to ensure safe, reliable service
for generations to come.
About San Diego Coastkeeper:
San Diego Coastkeeper's Watershed Monitoring Program
works with a wide variety of regulatory agencies, academic
institutions, businesses and non-profit organizations along
with dedicated volunteers to supplement the limited data
resources available, protect sensitive ecosystems, identify
and abate pollution sources, track the effectiveness of
pollution prevention plans, and prevent further degradation
of our precious water resources.
Method and Results
KhristinaRae Hernandez, City of San Diego Water Dept.
Recycled (Reclaimed) Water (RW):
San Diego currently imports up to 90 percent of its water
supply from Northern California and the Colorado River.
To meet future water demand:
•The North City Water Reclamation Plant has the capability
to treat 30 MGD.
Utilizing Recycled Water:
Find sites that are conditioned and
plot on map with the current
recycled water pipeline.
Conditioned- sites that will be
constructed to use recycled water in the future.
Researching Groundwater Resources:
•Use mapping software to gather information about
existing and possible well sites
•Drill monitoring wells to gather data about water quality
and aquifer characteristics
•Perform pump tests and note recovery rate to increase
our understanding of San Diego’s groundwater basins
•Search for the Job numbers in the City of San Diego
Engineering Dept. Map Book. (400+ sites)
•Use the PTS Application to investigate which projects
were actually conditioned (~100)
•Look for notation such as “The Owner/Permittee shall
design and construct all on-site irrigation systems,
served by irrigation meter, to utilized reclaimed
water…”
•Plot sites on current Recycled Water pipeline map
Procedure to retrofit a site:
1. Conduct Site Assessment
2. Prepare Design Drawings
3. Design Review & Plan Check
4. Retrofit Property
5. Test System
6. Sign User Agreement
7. Meter/Service Installation
8. Train Staff and Initiate Service
Testing water samples for
bacteria, nitrates and phosphates
Monitoring Well
Top Left: My lab partner and I preparing a
water sample to measure bacteria levels.
Top/Bottom Right: A sample of
water after incubation reacting with
ultra violet light. This sample had
very high levels of bacteria.
Adam Taylor, San Diego Coastkeeper Lab:
Site to be retrofitted
www.sandiego.gov/water/recycled
San Diego Coastkeeper is currently sampling and
retrieving data from 10 of San Diego County’s 11
watersheds.
Watersheds - basin shaped areas of land where water from
rain or snow flows down from higher elevation to lower
lands and into streams, rivers, estuaries, and eventually
the ocean.
Lara Barrett, City of San Diego Water Dept.
Water Resources and Planning Division:
Groundwater resources can supplement San Diego’s water
supply and reduce our dependence on imported water.
San Diego County’s
11 Watersheds
Conclusion
We have found through our internship experience and from
working as a team on this poster that it takes a dedicated
group of citizens to keep our most valuable resource
available. We have been able to network with peers and
professionals in the water business to gain a better
understanding of how infrastructure, facilities, and people
make it possible for water to flow when you turn on the tap.
We all understand that water is the next “big issue” and are all
eager to continue our education in focus of environmental
issues.
San Diego’s Groundwater Basins
•The South Bay Water Reclamation
Plant can treat 15 MGD.
Acknowledgements
•Wastewater is treated to a level
suitable for irrigation, and
non-drinking purposes.
•Cost-effective, reliable and
good for the environment.
79 miles of RW pipeline
~16 additional miles by 2009
•Current recycled water customers –
UCSD, Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course,
and Caltrans.
Protecting Surface Waters through Monitoring:
•Water samples are collected and tested for pH,
temperature, and conductivity in the field.
•The water samples are then brought to the lab for
bacteria and nutrient testing.
•Data is organized and analyzed, then expressed visually
for easier comprehension.
We would like to thank the MESA program and the National
Science Foundation for giving us the opportunity to
collaborate with each other and to present our work as a team.
Thank you also to our supervisors for their support and
guidance.
Lastly, thank you to our families for supporting our endeavors
and encouraging our growth as we pursue our education and
prepare for the future.
Although interns from the City of San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper worked together to present the information on this poster, please note that the City of San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper are not affiliated with one another.