Read the full article by Tammy Murga (The Signal)
“Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency officials virtually celebrated Monday the completion of a new water treatment plant, next to the William S. Hart Pony Baseball & Softball park, which is meant to restore groundwater affected by a suspected manmade carcinogen.
‘Our top priority is our customers. This new treatment facility is an investment in our long-term water supply and is providing safe, high-quality water to thousands of Santa Clarita Valley residents,’ said SCV Water’s General Manager Matt Stone. ‘Our SCV Water team is also hard at work to bring additional treatment facilities online.’
The plant, located adjacent to the Hart fields parking lot, is considered one of the first in California that combats per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from groundwater — the first of potentially two others expected to be in full operation by 2022, according to officials.
With annual operating costs of about $600,000, the new facility provides sufficient water for 5,000 households in the SCV and, with two more plants in the coming years, 4,000 more households will be provided water every year.
Officials also announced that three wells previously impacted by PFAS have also returned for service, costing upwards of $6 million, according to Mike Alvord, director of operations and maintenance for the agency.
‘Restoring this water supply is accomplished through an ion exchange process, which absorbs the PFAS chemicals, removing it from the water,’ he said. ‘The water flows through these six vessels that are filled with this resin, goes through a series of pumps and motors and enters a very sophisticated chloramination disinfection facility, which uses self-generated chlorine mixed with ammonia to disinfect our drinking water. This process, which uses chloramines, reduces the amount of disinfection byproducts and has fewer taste and odor problems as we are wrapping up construction at this facility…'”