WATER SYSTEMS ON WAY IMPROVEMENTS SET FOR PLANTS.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff WriterPALMDALE - The Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency will invest $40 million to $45 million to modify its four treatment plants to meet federal standards for trihalomethanes, a water treatment byproduct by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. Noun 1. linked to birth defects birth defects, abnormalities in physical or mental structure or function that are present at birth. They range from minor to seriously deforming or life-threatening. A major defect of some type occurs in approximately 3% of all births. and miscarriages. AVEK plans to install three new processes at its Acton, Eastside, Rosamond and Quartz Hill plants that purify California Aqueduct water. The agency will also expand its capacity at the Quartz Hill plant from 65 million gallons per day to 90 million gallons per day. The modifications will be made to meet a 1998 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and order to reduce the maximum allowable level of trihalomethanes, commonly called THMs, from 100 parts per billion to 80 parts per billion. AVEK's plan calls for treating the water with activated carbon, used to remove organic material from water, and with two disinfectants - ozone and chloramines, a mix of chlorine and ammonia. ``By incorporating these processes, we will achieve these standards for many years to come,'' said Russ Fuller, AVEK general manager. AVEK hopes to award a bid for the modifications in December. The chloramine chloramine: see hydrazine. process will take about a year to install. The ozone and activated carbon systems should be in place in early 2008, Fuller said. The modifications will add about $40 an acre-foot to AVEK rates. The water wholesaler sells water for $225 an acre-foot now. An acre-foot is 325,872 gallons, about the amount a typical Antelope Valley household uses in a year. THMs are a byproduct of the treatment plant purification process. They form through the reaction of chlorine, used as a disinfectant, with organic material in the water. A 1998 California Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
A federal study linked THMs in drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. to a birth defect birth defect Genetic or trauma-induced abnormality present at birth. A more restrictive term than congenital disorder, it covers abnormalities that arise during the formation of an embryo's organs and tissues and does not include those caused by diseases (e.g. called spina bifida, in which the spinal cord spinal cord, the part of the nervous system occupying the hollow interior (vertebral canal) of the series of vertebrae that form the spinal column, technically known as the vertebral column. is not properly enclosed by bone. AVEK does not supply water directly to Antelope Valley homes, but provides State Water Project water imported from Northern California to supplement retail water districts' local wells. AVEK's jurisdiction covers most of the Antelope Valley except for central and eastern Palmdale, where the Palmdale Water District draws its own supplemental water from the California Aqueduct. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion