The City of San Clemente owns and operates a recycled water system, the primary purpose of which is to reduce demands on treated domestic water. The source of recycled water is the City’s Water Reclamation Plant, which had the capacity to produce up to 2.2 MGD. The recycled water was used for irrigation at the City (Municipal) Golf Course and the Pacific Golf Course, as well as for process and irrigation at the Water Reclamation Plant. The Water Reclamation Plant included provisions for expansion of recycled water production to 4.4 MGD in full compliance with Title 22 of the California Administrative Code.  The recycled water is intended for use by golf courses, schools, parks, slopes, and freeway irrigation projects.

 

AKM’s scope of work included updating the Recycled Water Master Plan (2007); preparing a preliminary design report evaluating alternative alignments and service conditions; design of recycled water pump stations, pipelines, a pressure reducing station, conversion of an existing 2 MG potable water reservoir to recycled water service, and a new potable water reservoir to serve primarily as a forebay reservoir for the existing potable water pump station. This work included an extensive modeling effort to maximize recycled water use, which resulted in the recommendation to convert the 574 Zone reservoir to recycled water service, as well as a potable water make-up line at the converted reservoir to meet peak hour demands with minimal potable water use.

 

AKM utilized the updated model for analysis of various operational scenarios at the two pump stations and for selecting the pumps.

 

The recycled water pump stations convey water to two separate zones.  One has three 600-gallon per minute pumps and the second has three 800-gallon per minute pumps, as well as all necessary valves, surge tanks, and discharge piping. The pump stations convey recycled water from the Water Reclamation Plant to both the Pacific Golf Course and the 2 MG Reservoir 11, which was converted from potable water to recycled water use.

 

The pipeline design consisted of 4,035 feet of 20-inch, and 8,350 feet of 12-inch of ductile iron pipe and 8,200 feet of 8-inch, and 13,500 feet of 6-inch PVC pipe.

 

One pressure reducing station was designed to maintain proper pressures in the distribution system based on the hydraulic analysis.

 

The project also included the design of a new 0.2 MG potable water forebay reservoir adjacent to the 2 MG converted reservoir, associated yard piping, details for connecting to the existing domestic water booster station, and yard piping modifications.

 

This project was awarded the “Sustainable Engineering Project of the Year” by Orange County ASCE. It was a $25.1 Million project that included $5.6 million in State Proposition 50 grant funding and $14.4 million in State Revolving Fund Loans.