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1. What is VenturaWaterPure?

The VenturaWaterPure project will provide a locally-owned, rain independent, and reliable water resource for the community. The project will connect to the existing treatment system and purify water historically discharged from the Ventura Water Reclamation Facility to the Santa Clara River Estuary (SCRE). Upon enhanced treatment at a new Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF), the highly purified water will benefit the City, after injection and extraction from a local groundwater basin, as a new supply source. This process is generally known as potable reuse and more specifically as Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR). VenturaWaterPure will help to achieve diversified supplies and meet future water needs.

2. What are the components of VenturaWaterPure?

The project includes a network of pipelines, a new AWPF, a groundwater injection/extraction system, an ocean outfall, and freshwater treatment wetlands. The main feature is the new AWPF, which will utilize a proven multi-stage treatment process to produce a reliable, high-quality, and local water resource.

3. What have been the safety considerations of potable reuse?

Potable reuse technologies produce high-quality drinking water using a multi-step and multi-barrier advanced treatment process. Though technologies can vary, many systems use water purification that includes three processes: microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light/advanced oxidation. Combined, these purification processes remove salts, bacteria, viruses and micro-constituents (like pharmaceuticals and personal care products) to produce water quality that is equal to, or better than, existing drinking water sources.

Many communities in California and across the nation are building safe and reliable recycled water solutions for potable reuse. An example of where these proven technologies are used locally includes: Orange County, West Basin Municipal Water District, and Los Angeles County. Other communities, like Ventura, are in the planning and implementation phases, including: San Diego, Santa Clara Valley, Monterey, Las Virgenes, Carpinteria, Pismo Beach, Los Angeles, and Oxnard.

4. Why is VenturaWaterPure needed?

The project is needed to provide water security and meet multiple requirements to ensure community safety, affordable water solutions, and long-term water supply and quality needs. Specific needs include:

• Augment local water supply; the City is projected to have a water supply deficit of 20 to 30 percent by 2035.
• Provide drought and disaster resilient water supply; the project will address unreliability of the current water supply portfolio.
• Protect and improve ecological resources and beneficial uses of Santa Clara River Estuary.
• Improve municipal supply quality; total dissolved solids (TDS), including salts removal.
• Maintain compliance with regulatory permits National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

5. Why is VenturaWaterPure the preferred recycled water solution?

Based on a decade of evaluation, study, piloting, and reports there has been only one option that achieves all project objectives and provides the most value to the community—this is the VenturaWaterPure solution. Of the many alternatives studied in the approved Ventura Water Supplies Environmental Impact Report, it is the only solution that meets the needs of significantly reducing treated wastewater discharge to the SCRE, improving water quality, and providing a rain-independent and locally-owned water resource.

6. Why is the project scheduled for 2025 completion?

The VenturaWaterPure solution must be implemented by 2025 to meet water supply needs and maintain compliance with regulatory and environmental requirements.

As noted above, the City is likely to have a water supply deficit in the future without the introduction of new supply sources. Therefore, this new drought-resistant supply is needed as soon as possible to ensure long-term water reliability.

The City is also subject to permits and a Federal Court decree regarding the discharge of its treated wastewater flows to the SCRE. Those binding rules require compliance by 2025. Not meeting the deadline could subject the City to fines and penalties.

7. How will VenturaWaterPure be funded?

The project construction costs of approximately $190-$206 million are consistent with Ventura Water’s capital improvement program estimates. The project will be funded through a combination of grants, loans, rates, and other cost sharing opportunities. Rate impact analyses are underway at this time.There is no identified solution that meets the water supply needs and achieves compliance and water quality needs at a better cost / benefit value than VenturaWaterPure.

8. Why doesn’t the City expand its tertiary treated water or “purple pipe” infrastructure?

Following extensive studies completed from 2009 to 2013, it was determined that the expansion of the tertiary treated water (recycled) distribution system (aka purple pipe) was not the best option for the City of Ventura. In Ventura, urban and agricultural irrigation is limited in demand with seasonal variability. Even if a purple pipe system was fully expanded throughout the City, the demand for irrigation-quality water would not offset, or equal, the amount of potable water (safe to drink) that could be added to the City’s water supply through potable water reuse.

Tertiary treated water (recycled), delivered in purple pipes, is limited in use and water quality. To utilize tertiary treated water, a dual system must be plumbed requiring a permit, backflow testing, inspection, and training.  Due to the high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and chloride level in the water, tertiary treated water cannot be used in areas where hard water deposits would interfere or on crops with a low salt tolerance. In order for the City to expand its use of tertiary treated water, additional treatment would be required.

 For these reasons, the City is pursuing VenturaWaterPure, a potable reuse project that will diversify Ventura’s water supply, secure a new locally owned water source, meet regulatory requirements, and improve water quality. The treatment of tertiary water to potable standards allows for the expansion of recycled water use to anything, including drinking water, and eliminates the need for a separate purple pipe system.  

9. Why doesn’t the City convey its tertiary treated water to the City of Oxnard as an alternative to the VenturaWaterPure Project?

This alternative would require the City of Ventura to convey its tertiary treated water (recycled) to the City of Oxnard’s advanced treatment plant and then purchase the water back for use by Ventura Water customers. It is legally uncertain whether the City of Oxnard could even sell the water back to the City of Ventura.

This alternative would require the construction of two pipelines and multiple pump stations. The City of Oxnard would need to expand its facility and these construction costs would be similar to those associated with the construction of VenturaWaterPure’s Advanced Water Treatment Facility.

Additionally, this alternative would potentially include large fees imposed by the City of Oxnard to both treat Ventura’s tertiary treated water and then repurchase it. The fees would be determined by the City of Oxnard and as a result, Ventura would lose control over the cost of its own drinking water source. The fees associated with this alternative would most likely exceed the operational costs of the proposed VenturaWaterPure Project.

What the VenturaWaterPure Project provides, that the City of Oxnard alternative does not, is a City of Ventura secured water asset. The City would be in control of the operations and maintenance budget and its impact to rates for the treated water.

10. Why isn’t the City sending the tertiary treated water to United Water Conservation District’s (United) spreading grounds?

Sending tertiary treated water (recycled) to United’s spreading grounds presents the same limitations that the City of Oxnard alternative does. The City of Ventura would be subject to the costs imposed by United. The City would not have exclusive control of its water supply, and the water would be available to all users in United’s service area which could lead to challenges with beneficial use costs, water rights, and allocations.  In addition, the tertiary treated water would require additional treatment to reduce the dissolved solid and salt content before it could be spread. The City of Ventura would be responsible for this additional cost without the full return benefit of having control over the water supply.

11. What is Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and Genes

• Antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have naturally existed in the environment for millions of years.
• An ARB is bacteria that can resist the effects of antibiotics; whereas an ARG is genetic material that is acquired by bacteria that protects it from antibiotics.
• Long term exposure to antibiotics results in the evolution of bacteria to be more resistant to antibiotics, essentially becoming ARBs.
• Antibiotics are widely used for human, veterinary, and agricultural purposes. This means there is continuous release into the environment.
• ARBs are often referred to as “antibiotic-resistant super bugs— bugs which we do not currently have medicine to treat.”

12. Is ARB/ARG removed during the advanced water purification process?

• Conventional wastewater treatment provides inactivation of ARBs. Although ARGs are significantly reduced in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), a substantial number of ARGs can still be found in WWTP effluents. Advanced water purification is highly effective in removing both ARBs and ARGs.
• A University of Southern California (USC) study demonstrated that advanced treatment process reduced nearly all targeted ARGs to below detectable limits. Link
• A Water Research Foundation study demonstrated that advanced treatment processes have resulted in less ARGs than found in municipal water supplies. Link
• Research shows that advanced processes, including ultraviolet light, is proven effective in inactivating ARBs.
• Orange County Water District, which operates a 100-million- gallon-per-day (100 MGD) advanced water purification facility (AWFP) to produce potable reuse, has done extensive studies that have applied innovative DNA sequencing techniques resulting in detection and profile of microbial in water samples and removal of antibiotic resistant genes. Link

13. What measures are taken to ensure purified water sources are safe?

• The State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Drinking Water regulates our current drinking water sources. A panel of experts, appointed by National Water Research Institute (NWRI) and working with the State, determined that potable reuse would pose no additional health risk from ARBs and ARGs than existing drinking water sources pose. Link
• The VenturaWaterPure treatment process will reduce ARB and ARG levels equal to or lower than conventional water supplies.
• Effective removal of ARGs has been demonstrated with processes such as reverse osmosis (RO) and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection with advanced oxidation processes (AOP), which are processes to be implemented in the proposed VenturaWaterPure facility, along with additional processes of Ozone and free chlorination disinfection.
• The VenturaWaterPure process was piloted, tested and refined at the VenturaWaterPure demonstration facility in 2016. Supported by the Water Research Foundation, the facility was recognized for its comprehensive testing measures. Results from the facility advanced research in potable reuse for communities statewide.
• VenturaWaterPure will conform to the State Division of Drinking Water’s stringent regulations for Indirect Potable Reuse. The project will meet all regulatory and water quality requirements prior to injection into the groundwater basin. Link