PWD adopts exemption for water treatment plant

PALMDALE — The Palmdale Water District Board of Directors, on Monday, agreed to adopt an exemption to the state’s environmental regulations in regard to building an advanced water treatment plant demonstration facility on District property near the administrative offices.

The facility will be used to prove out the processes for a full-scale treatment plant that will be used to turn recycled water into groundwater. It will be used to educate the public on the water treatment system, as well as provide data to regulators for permitting purposes.

This facility is planned for a site just east of the Palmdale Water District’s administrative offices on Avenue Q. In addition to the working components of the advanced treatment system, the 5,490-square-foot facility will include a community room for educational purposes and other community functions, as well as an outdoor courtyard.

As part of the building process’ environmental regulations under the California Environmental Quality Act, cultural and biological surveys of the site were performed, in September and October, Engineering Manager Scott Rogers said.

The surveys confirmed that the site was on previously disturbed land and had no signs of cultural or biological significance.

Based on these results, the contractor on the project, Santec, filed a notice of exemption to Los Angeles County, in November, Rogers said.

This is a public notice that the project is exempt from CEQA regulations. The Board’s adoption allows the project to proceed.

Under the auspices of the Palmdale Recycled Water Authority, the project is known as Pure Water Antelope Valley.

The project will treat recycled water — provided by the Authority, a Joint Powers Authority with PWD and the City of Palmdale — to a very high level, then inject it into the underground aquifer to bolster local water supplies.