Published: Feb 18, 2014 | 09:00 AM

IRWD Water Recycling Plant Nears Completion

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.