Amador Water Agency recycling plant conserves 67 million gallons of water/year
AMADOR WATER AGENCY TANNER WATER TREATMENT PLANT & BACKWASH RECYCLING FACILITY DEDICATION
PHOTO: AWA Board of Directors and guests dedicated a new water conservation project at the Water Agency’s Tanner Water Treatment Plant. Left to right: AWA Directors Art Toy, Rich Farrington, Susan Peters and Board President Paul Molinelli, Jr.. Back row: AWA General Manager Gene Mancebo, Director Gary Thomas, Jason Preece (CA Dept. of Water Resources), and John Kingsbury (Mountain Counties Water Resources Assoc.).
(Sutter Creek) Amador Water Agency Board of Directors and guests dedicated a new recycling plant that will conserve up to 67 million gallons of water per year at the AWA Tanner Water Treatment Plant on Ridge Road in Sutter Creek.
The newly completed Tanner Backwash Recycling Plant recycles 90% of the filter backwash water and returns it to the headworks of the Tanner Water Treatment Plant, conserving over 180,000 gallons per day.
Backwashing refers to pumping water backwards through water treatment plant filters so that the filter media can be cleaned and reused. Historically, spent backwash water from the Tanner Water Treatment Plant was discharged to a pond and the former Ione Canal to evaporate or seep into the ground.
The Tanner Water Treatment Plant provides drinking water to Martell and the cities of Amador City, Sutter Creek, Jackson and Plymouth. This is the third AWA project for recycling backwash water since 2016. The others were added to AWA’s Ione and Buckhorn Water Treatment Plants. The three plants combined will save 120 million gallons per year.
The recycle plant is located at the existing AWA Tanner Water Treatment plant site and does not increase water treatment plant capacity, but it does reduce the amount of water diverted from the Mokelumne River. Recycling the backwash water is just one way that AWA can provide for future water demand.
Construction for the recycling plant was paid for by a $4,097,995 grant from California Department of Water Resources that does not have to be paid back. The Agency provided $65,000 towards the project.
MDS Engineering & Construction Inc. was the contractor on the project.
