All five members of the Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors and senior staff members toured the Michelson Water Recycling Plant last week. The $100 million expansion of MWRP began in the fall of 2009 and is slated for completion in May.

The plant upgrade will increase the plant’s capacity to treat up to 28 million gallons of wastewater per day. The tertiary treated water is used for landscape and agricultural irrigation, toilet flushing in commercial buildings, air conditioning cooling towers and various industrial uses.

Included in the expansion is construction of new headworks facility, a high-rate clarifier, electrical and blower buildings, ultraviolet disinfection facility, membrane bioreactor facility and modification to the influent trunk sewer lines.

The board and staff members visited the new facilities and were given a primer on how each works. They were even paid a visit by Gina, an owl used to deter crows from perching on the membrane bioreactor . Gina not only helps to keep the facility clean, she is a star in her own right – you might have seen her on a Geico commercial.

Principal Engineer Steve Malloy, project manager for the expansion, conducted the tour, assisted by Plant Manager Gaspar Garza and Randy Lee, assistant director for recycling operations.

More information about the MWRP expansion project is available on our website.

The Irvine Ranch Water District budget based rate structure adopted in 1991 was designed to achieve the dual objectives of promoting water conservation while maintaining revenue stability. It is a foundational tool in IRWD’s successful water efficiency program and has resulted in significant water use reductions. Since 1991 the average daily water use for an IRWD residential customer has fallen from 170 gallons per day to approximately 86 gallons per day in 2014 and customers continue to be rewarded with the one of the lowest rates in Orange County.

At IRWD, the cost of water supplied to customers is based on the actual quantity of water used and the cost to IRWD to purchase these water supplies. Customers who use less water are rewarded with lower rates because IRWD can utilize low cost local sources of water. Customers who use more water have higher bills because of the need for IRWD to purchase more expensive imported water. Each customer pays their fair share, no more or no less.

IRWD assesses a monthly fixed charge based upon meter size. This fixed charge provides adequate funding for all fixed operating costs other than the water commodity itself and the District’s water use efficiency and related programs. Debt service payments are paid from sources related to capital development. As such, IRWD enjoys revenue stability and our ability to make debt service payments is not impacted regardless of the amount of water sold or the degree of conservation experienced from customers’ water use efficiency practices.

Lastly, imported water is IRWD’s most expensive source of supply. IRWD has made significant investments in water conservation, recycled water, and other water supply reliability projects, which have reduced imported water from 62% to a low of 23% percent in 2014. This reduction in the District’s dependence on imported water helps keep water rates low.

For more information on IRWD’s successful water conservation program, please visit http://www.irwd.com

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Background:   IRWD Asks Customers to Voluntarily Reduce Water Use by 20 Percent

In response to a statewide drought declaration by Governor Brown, the Irvine Ranch Water District Board of Directors adopted a resolution asking all IRWD customers to voluntarily reduce their water use by 20%.  This voluntary conservation effort will help reduce demand on current statewide water supplies and extend water reserves if the drought continues for an extended period.  

One of the Irvine Ranch Water District’s greatest assets is its employee base and the District can surely demonstrate longevity among its workforce. Three employees will reach a 30-year milestone of employment with the District this year and 11 of them have logged more than 30 years. One of them is Lester Busald, who achieved 35 years of service in early January. Busald is an Operations Supervisor at the Michelson Water Recycling Plant.

“I was 20 when I started, so I can honestly look back and say I grew up here,” Busald said.

He began his long IRWD career as a Utility Worker at the plant. This involved doing any job asked of him - even if it meant climbing into the four small circular clarifiers and scrubbing the algae off the walls before the peak wastewater flow came in.

“In those days, the plant was at four million gallons per day,” he recalled. “Peak flow would be a little more than seven million.”

For all of his 35 years, Busald had worked in wastewater treatment. When he was hired in 1979, there were three shifts working at the Michelson plant. Emerging computer technology eventually rendered three shifts unnecessary. Stand-by plant operators now respond to problems at the plant from home with the click of a mouse.

As the new employee, Busald spent his first eight months on the graveyard shift. Prior to IRWD, Busald worked for an aerospace company in Anaheim, where he grew up. Coming to work at IRWD allowed him to get married later that year.

Over the years, Busald has moved up from the entry level position to the one he holds today – Operations Supervisor. He has been involved in every plant upgrade since that time, including development of the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, construction of the circular clarifier, to the current expansion of the plant which will process 28 millions of wastewater per day.

As various aspects of the new plant infrastructure go online, Busand and all of the operators undergo extensive training. The plant currently processes 20 mgd. He has received training on the new headworks and the high-rate clarifier. He and his fellow operations supervisor, Dave Hayden, oversee various portions of the plant. Busald and his five operators are responsible for the new headworks, high-rate clarifier and the older section of the plant. He is looking forward to training on the new membrane bioreactor.

Construction at the plant, which began in 2009, is expected to wrap up in May. More information on MWRP and the construction progress may be found on our website.