The City of San Diego (City) and MWH recently completed a 18-month testing program to
determine the effectiveness of a three-step Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) process to produce
water suitable for indirect potable reuse from tertiary water produced at the North City Water
Reclamation Plant (NCWRP). The AWT process consisted of three steps: ultrafiltration (UF);
reverse osmosis (RO); and ultraviolet (UV) light + hydrogen peroxide. This treatment process is
similar to full scale AWT systems being implemented for indirect potable reuse projects such as the
Groundwater Replenishment System (Orange County Water District) and NEWater project plants
(Singapore). The overall intent of the testing program was to build upon previous testing conducted
by the City (Trussel and Adham, 1997) and other agencies, which have implemented, or are planning
an indirect potable reuse project. Specific objectives of the study included:
assess the water quality performance of the AWT process during operation on tertiary water
(recycled water before disinfection) from the NCWRP;
compare AWT product water quality to San Diego's existing source water supply;
determine the effectiveness of RO and UV with hydrogen peroxide to remove a target list of
endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP)
present in NCWRP tertiary water; and,
evaluate the operational performance of new generation RO membranes during operation on
tertiary water from the NCWRP. Includes 8 references, tables, figures.