OCWD conducts national study

The nation’s depleted drinking water supply has led researchers on a

quest to find new resources, and Surf City’s main water supplier, the

Orange County Water District, will serve as the testing site.

The district was selected by the National Science Foundation to

serve as the testing site for a nationwide research program aimed at

developing new water treatment technology. The water utility will use

a $99,000 grant, guaranteed by the foundation for the next five

years, to analyze equipment designed to purify water.

The team also includes researchers from Stanford University, the

University of Illinois and Clark Atlanta University.

The program’s goal is to increase and improve the world’s drinking

water supplies by focusing on technology that purifies compromised

water sources such as seawater and sewage water.

Central to the project is development of reverse osmosis

membranes, which are becoming common in the water purification

industry and edging out other kinds of water treatment technology,

said Don Phipps, director of research at the Orange County Water

District.

The reverse osmosis membrane is a device that separates water from

salt, bacteria and other constituents. Water molecules move easily

through the membrane, while salt and contaminants move more slowly

and are caught before passing through.

Reverse osmosis membranes take up less space, and therefore

require less real estate than other larger systems, due to their the

mechanical and chemical simplicity.

“As time goes by and we continue into the 21st century, this

technology is going to become more widespread, and the use will

become more common at both the small scale and the industrial scale,”

Phipps said.

The membranes, however, are hardly perfect, Phipps said. They

could be cheaper, more energy efficient and less prone to problems.

Chemical and biological species, for example, are known collect on

the surface of the membrane, making it difficult for water to pass

through.

“There’s a number of areas where we need to see new developments,”

Phipps said. “We’re working on a membrane that can produce a

better-quality product for less cost.”

The membrane samples will be created at Stanford and then sent to

Fountain Valley where the research team will put the systems to work,

performing extensive experiments and testing, in an aim to weed out

what doesn’t work.

Ron Wildermuth, the district’s communication director, said that

this is just one more step in the agency’s “tradition of innovation.”

“To be participating with this level of expertise demonstrates the

quality of people here at the Orange County Water District,”

Wildermuth said. “We’re talking the best in the country and maybe the

world.”

Shrinking water supplies are the project’s driving force. In fact,

many water treatment experts like Phipps believe there is a global

water crisis.

“It’s in our best interest not to waste that precious resource

that we have,” Phipps said. “Water is worth human lives. You can’t

exist without water.”

Phipps hopes that these new systems will play a part in bailing

out the dry nation.

“We need to be able to be much more efficient on how we deal with

our water, and what stands between us and that water supply is the

appropriate technology,” Phipps said.

Foundation and affiliate make offer for KOCE

Orange County’s struggling public television station may be saved

from religious broadcasters if its foundation and PBS affiliate KCET

are successful in buying it out.

Los Angeles-based KCET and the KOCE Foundation have officially

combined forces and made a joint bid for the station.

Meanwhile, KPBS-TV, a PBS affiliate based in San Diego, has

abandoned its bid.

Remaining bidders include at least three televangelist groups, one

of which is associated with the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which

claims to be the world’s largest Christian television network. Orange

County developer Frank Jao, creator of Westminster’s Asian Garden

Mall, also put in a bid.

KOCE-TV has been the county’s only source of local TV news

coverage since the Orange County News Channel went under two years

ago. It broadcasts 24-hours a day and airs news, educational

programming and specialty shows to its 4.5 million viewers.

But the financially strapped Coast Community College District,

which holds KOCE-TV’s license, is no longer able to shoulder its

$2-million portion of the station’s $7.9-million annual budget.

The final decision on the sale will be made by the board of

trustees. Discussions will continue at their next meeting, scheduled

for Aug. 20.

Sewer project closes parts of Warner

Parts of Warner Avenue are closed this week while the Orange

County Sanitation District repairs, and in some sections replace, an

existing sewer pipeline.

During the next several weeks, excavation and repair work will

take place on the pipeline between Springdale Street and the

Wintersburg Channel. During construction, detours will be provided

and clearly marked.

Work is scheduled to occur weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The next

portion of work is scheduled to occur in mid-August, when a 36-inch

pipeline will be installed. This work will occur weekdays from 8 p.m.

to 6 a.m. and is expected to last about four weeks. During those

hours, one lane in each direction will also remain open.

The Orange County Sanitation District will also be working in

several other areas of the city, such as on Brookhurst Street south

of Banning Avenue, Banning at Bushard Street, Bushard at

Indianapolis, and Bushard south of Garfield. Work may be going on in

as many as four areas simultaneously and is expected to be completed

by early November.

Morrison retires from Bolsa fight

For decades, Adrianne Morrison, the executive director of the

Bolsa Chica Conservancy, and her husband, Flint, have cherished and

protected the wetlands.

But even as she retired from that role, she was aiding the cause.

The gala fund-raiser “A New Beginning ... A Lasting Legacy”

celebrating her retirement brought in more than $5,000.

The event, held at the Waterfront Hilton, paid tribute to the

community activists. Among the many presentations and accolades were

citations from retired Supervisor Harriett Wieder, Huntington Beach

Mayor Pro Tem Cathy Green, Supervisor Jim Silva, Assemblyman Tom

Harman and Department of Fish and Game Director Bob Hight.

The Huntington Harbour residents have been actively involved in

the planning and preservation of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands as well as

serving on many Huntington Beach city commissions.

The Morrisons were presented with a brass plaque that read

“Adrianne and Flint Morrison Wetlands Resource Library.”

Donations for wetlands educational programs in their honor may be

sent to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy at 3842 Warner Ave., Huntington

Beach, CA 92649.