In continuing its long-term commitment to environmental stewardship, Burbank Water and Power (BWP) is pleased to announce the installation of an innovative Reclaimed Water Treatment System at BWP’s on-site power plants. This system will reduce BWP’s use of potable (drinking) water by as much as 70,000 gallons per day. The water treatment system takes reclaimed effluent from the City’s waste water treatment plant through a series of refining steps, producing water pure enough for use in BWP’s power plants.
By dramatically reducing the amount of potable water used in producing electricity, BWP has cut costs in half while taking an important environmental step in conserving water. Previously, the waste water was simply discharged after being cleaned at the sewage treatment plant. With the advent of this project, the water lives again, helping to produce electricity.
The design team of Puretec Industrial Water and Pall Corporation has recently completed the installation and integration of this new pure water production system at the City of Burbank’s power generating facilities. This new system will provide treated water for use in the new Lake Unit 1 combustion turbine and Olive 1 & 2 steam units. Expansion capability has been built in, so that in the future, the needs of the Magnolia Power Project (MPP) can be met with the present infrastructure.
More Environmental Savings
In 1967, Burbank Water and Power had the distinction of being the first utility in the nation to use reclaimed water in place of potable water in its cooling towers. This newest system, with its unique method of processing reclaimed waste water, is a continuation of that environmental commitment and is another proud first for the City. Last summer, BWP installed another environmental project, installing ten micro turbines to create energy from gasses produced at Burbank’s landfill.
This reclaimed water treatment system is fully automated, designed around a Micro Filtration and Reverse Osmosis package. The reclaimed water treatment system was installed under an owner operator agreement, with Puretec Industrial Water (Ventura, California) providing all of the operational and maintenance services.
