N1.08 Scholes 2019 ReNUWIt Annual Meeting Poster

The popularity of potable water reuse is increasing due to droughts and concerns about the impacts of climate change on water supplies. As the volume of water recycled increases and projects are proposed in areas where direct discharge of reverse osmosis concentrate to the ocean is infeasible, removal of contaminants from reverse osmosis concentrate has emerged as an important issue. For example, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, an IAB member, has proposed a potable water reuse project that would be one of the largest facilities in the world. Currently, the viability of the project is threatened by a lack of cost- effective options for concentrate treatment prior to discharge to South San Francisco Bay.

The ReNUWIt-developed technology of open water wetlands has been demonstrated as a viable treatment for secondary wastewater effluent and effluent-dominated surface waters, and may provide similar treatment functions for concentrate from potable reuse. This project aims to evaluate concentrate treatment via the open water wetland both alone and in conjunction with an ozone pretreatment.