Conejo Post

With potable water becoming increasingly expensive and hard to get in SoCal, using recycled water (RW) for irrigation is becoming increasingly attractive. 

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and Triunfo Sanitation District, owner of Oak park Water Service, have both been pioneers in using recycled water for irrigation in this area.  You could say we were pushed into this usage by the Regional Water Quality Board, who started limiting when the 2-district partnership for wastewater treatment could discharge treated water into Malibu Creek.  We (those of us on the 2 agency boards) will tell you that we think our tertiary-treated water is the cleanest water in the creek, however the RWQB was concerned about algae growth in the creek during summer months and has required for a while, that the partnership not  release water into the creek seven months of the year.

So, those release limits got TSD and LVMWD started into the recycled water business.  Our two agencies built the infrastructure to serve our two areas, and now, in Oak Park for instance, this water is used for irrigation by Ventura County, OPUSD, Rancho Simi Rec and Parks, HOAs, and Lake Sherwood Golf Course.

I think it would be great to expand the use of this resource because of limits on potable water from the Sacramento Delta, but both gravity and layers of agencies and laws create challenges to this in the Conejo Valley.  Regarding gravity, Thousand Oaks treats its wastewater at their Hill Canyon plant which is down the hill from most of the city.  It is then too expensive to pump the recycled water back up the hill to use in T.O., so they sell it to Camrosa Water District in Camarillo, mostly for agricultural uses.  That leaves T.O. using potable water for irrigation.

As for laws, in California, water purveyors (or agencies) are the only entity that can sell water in their district.  Well, recycled water is a product of wastewater treatment, so, even though Triunfo and LVMWD make recycled water, they can not directly sell RW to residents in any area where they don’t also own the water agency. As an example, Triunfo collects wastewater in the Thousand Oaks part of Westlake Village, but since they do not own the water district there,  they can’t sell it back to their wastewater  ratepayers.

 Calleguas could sell it to the water agency in that area, California Water Service (Cal Water), but of course, Cal Water would need an incentive to do that.  (Triunfo as the owner of Oak Park Water, has the incentive, which is not to dump the RW into Malibu Creek.)

Triunfo is limited for another reason too, and that is that Calleguas Municipal Water District is the wholesale water agency for this part of Ventura County.  So, LVMWD and Triunfo make the RW for use in both Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, but the partnership has to sell it to Calleguas at the Ventura County line.  The RW then flows in large trunk lines through Oak Park, where Calleguas then sells it back to Oak Park Water Service (which is owned by Triunfo).

LVMWD is in a better position for selling recycled water, first because their water district is about the same size as their wastewater treatment district.  That means that they can sell RW to most of their wastewater rate payers.  Secondly, they do not have an agency in the middle that they have to sell the RW back and forth to.  Therefore, LVMWD gets the full markup for their RW, instead of a lot of  the moneygoing to another agency.

When I first got on the Triunfo board and started to learn about the science and politics of recycled water, it was a huge challenge.  I wanted to share this with you, and will take up the next course, RW 102, soon!

Posted by Janna Orkney, Vice Chair, Triunfo Sanitation District