Salty Days Along the Santa Ana: A Western Story

1. Salty Days Along the Santa Ana: A Western Story Celeste Cantú ACWA 9/30/10

2. What is Salt? • Dietary mineral essential to human life • Salt regulates fluid balance allowing proper body function • Recommended Daily Intake • 1,500 mg/ day • Average American Intake • 4,000 – 6,000 mg/ day

3. Salt & Civilization • When we say “salary” and “worth his salt” we’re talking salt: • Roman army required salt for its soldiers, horses, and livestock • Soldiers at times paid in salt • Latin word sal (sal) later became the French word solde, the origin of the word, soldier.

4. Salt & Recent History • “All the great centers of civilization on the American continents were founded in places with access to salt.” • “The history of the Americas is one of constant warfare over salt. Whoever controlled salt was in power. “ The Erie canal, 1825. Civil War illustration, 1862. “Let there be work, bread, water, and salt for all.” Nelson Mandela

5. Environmental Costs of Salt • “Even before true industrialization had overtaken England . . [the] sky [was] blackened twenty four hours a day from clouds of smoke from the salt pan furnaces.” • “Barren white scars were etched into the pastureland . . . And the earth itself was beginning to collapse.” Salt in soil and aquifer Degraded Agricultural Lands

6. Second and Third Gold Rushes

7. A Legacy of Imported Water

8. Evaporation Stormwater Irrigation* Salt Level H2O Salts Runoff to Stream / River / Ocean Runoff Salts Salts Percolation Runoff * imported water, groundwater, or reclaimed water Groundwater Location in Watershed Salt in Our Groundwater

9. Bunker Hill Chino Riverside/Corona OrangeCounty Perris/Hemet Elsinore How Bad is It? 37,000 dump trucks lined up end-to-end from Los Angeles to Las Vegas (every year) 1.2 Million Tons/Yr 0.6 Million Tons/Yr 0.6 MillionTons/Yr Ocean Santa Ana River Watershed and Groundwater Basins

10. 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 44,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) TDS (mg/L or ppm) Potable Water Use < 1,000 mg/l TDS 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 3,000-10,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 7,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 250-4,000 700 700 700 700 700 700 700 700 700 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Sacramento Delta Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Colorado River Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Groundwater Brine Brine Brine Brine Brine Brine Brine Brine Brine Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater Seawater HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears HumanTears SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea SaltonSea Salt Levels (TDS)

11. Brine Line Santa Ana River Watershed Boundary OCSD Plant No. 1 OCSD Plant No. 2 The Good News….Inland Empire Brine Line Los Angeles County San Bernardino County IEUA San Bernardino Ontario SBVMWD Chino Riverside Riverside County Corona WMWD OCWD EMWD Orange County HuntingtonBeach Temecula 93 Mile Long Gravity System

12. Inland Empire Brine Line:Goals • Support brackish groundwater desalting • Provide salt disposal options in Inland Empire • “Best kept secret in the Inland Empire” • Manage salt in Santa Ana Watershed basins Currently underutilized and not well known outside water community

13. Inland Empire Brine Line • Major Dischargers • 6 Brackish Groundwater Desalters (50 MGD of potable water; 250,000 Persons) • 3 Power Plants (~2000 MW; ~1.5 M Homes) • 2 State Prisons (~10,000 inmates) • Various Industries • Other Domestic Wastewater Truck Dischargers (4 stations, ~ 60 trucks/day)

15. Brine Line Users Desalting Industrial Cooling

16. Brine Line Users Biotechnology Food Processing

17. Just Passing Through…. • Line passes through Prado Dam • Flows along Santa Ana River 20 miles • Flows treated at OCSD Plant #2 • Most costs pass-through treatment costs

18. Benefits to Orange County • Protection of drinking water basin • Avoided desalination costs • Potential supply- delivery of 32,000 AF/yr • By gravity to Anaheim Basins

19. Maximizing water recovery needs to remain affordable Crystallizer Zero Liquid Discharge Total Water Costs Concentrate Volume Reduction Overall Desalter Recovery (%) 70% 95% 100% Brine Concentrator

20. Current/Potential Salt Sources Wastewater Treatment Plants Groundwater Desalters To Water Supply Reclamation Brine To Reuse/ GW Recharge Directly Connected High TDS Sources and Domestic Wastewater Brine Concentrator Brine Waste Haulers To reuse/ supply Brine Dump Stations Brine SARI

22. Groundwater quality degradation, mainly driven by: Pumping  Irrigation  Consumptive Use  Concentrated Returns

23. With use of recycled water for direct uses and supplemental water recharge Groundwater quality degradation, mainly driven by: Pumping  Irrigation  Consumptive Use  Concentrated Returns

25. Questions? Celeste Cantú ccantu@sawpa.org 951.354.4229