5 options for treating city water

The city is investigating several options to reduce the amount of TCP 123 and nitrates in its water supply, Public Works Biridiana Bishop explained in an interview this week.

The city awarded a professional services agreement to Dee Jaspar and Associates, Inc. to prepare an analysis of options for developing a treatment strategy for the water supply. These could cost the city millions of dollars, depending on the direction of the work needed to bring contaminant levels into compliance with state requirements.

At the Sept. 17 City Council meeting, Bishop said that the city’s water system relies on groundwater provided by six existing wells. She presented the several options and reported the findings to the city council:

■ Option #1 was blending the water from different wells. “Blending works well to address nitrate contamination but it does not work for 123 – TCP,” Bishop said. “Therefore, this is not [really] an option.”

■ Option #2 is to dig four new wells.

■ Option #3 is treatment at the well head. This method requires treatment directly installed at each well site. “This means that each well site would have its own separate treatment,” Bishop said.

■ Option #4 is centralized treatment at one location. This recommendation would have a centralized treatment facility with a one-million-gallon storage tank at the Well 12 site. This site is located at the SE corner of McCombs and Griffith.

■ Option #5: The report recommended treatments at multiple locations, at the Well #12 site on the southeast corner of Griffith and McCombs; the Well #13 site at 1400 J Street and the third location on the northwest corner of Sunset and Palm avenues.

“Five of the wells exceed TCP 123 levels, and three exceed nitrate levels,” Bishop said at the Sept. 17 meeting.

She added that in addition, the city will be conducting a hydrogeologic study to analyze how much water is actually circulated, at a cost of $10,000.