Photo courtesy: WRCRWA
WRCRWA hosts a treatment plant tour to showcase expansion effort.

By Emily Aguilar

Eastvale – On Dec. 12, Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority (WRCRWA) Treatment Plant showcased their expansion and odor control efforts to nearly 20 residents during an informative public tour.

The construction of new homes nearby has made controlling odors important for everyone living and working nearby. When the plant was originally built, the area was zoned for agriculture/industrial use and the plant was situated by a dairy and a green waste facility, according to plant officials.

In 2014, WRCRWA received $72 million to fund an expansion of the treatment plant. The expansion expects to increase the cleansing of 8 million gallons of water per day to 14 million gallons by 2017.

Officials say that the plant is undergoing state-of-the-art enhancements to minimize odors and to expand the facility to treat more water to provide long term water supply reliability in the region.

Throughout the tour, WRCRWA employees demonstrated how the fusion of natural elements and engineering will assist them in recycling water and eliminating unpleasant odors.

For example, in one section of the tour, an employee stated that the plant relies on UV light to help disinfect water.

The plant has currently set odor neutralizing mister systems over the tops of digesters and biosolid pipes that release a liquid fragrance to cover up the smell emitting from the sewage. Trees have been planted to create a windblock, and tarps around biosolid loading structures were installed in September. They are also looking into adding air blowers with ducts to better direct contained odors within the tarps to the carbon filters.

Plant employees are also sent out to the nearby neighborhood to check for odors that may be emanating from the plant.

Officials also noted that they are working on converting the digesters to a new, anaerobic process, which is a process that uses no oxygen, from an aerobic process, which uses oxygen. This change will ultimately help minimize odors as the converted digesters will be totally enclosed, officials said in a statement released in December.

Air scrubbers that date back to 1998 will be replaced as part of the expansion, which should be completed by the summer of 2017.

They also encourage the community to join them in future tours, which are held quarterly and provide an insightful look at the site’s operations and latest improvements.

WRCRWA also asks residents to contact them if they experience any foul odors coming from the plant.

During daytime working hours (M-F, 7 am – 4 pm) call 951-789-5189. Outside working hours and weekends, call 951-212-5288. For updates on expansion progress, visit WRCRWA’s webpage at http://www.wrcrwa.org.