Purifying water for a sustainable tomorrow

Purifying water for a sustainable tomorrow
The Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center is
the largest advanced water purification plant in Northern
California.
The state-of-the-art facility receives secondary-treated
wastewater and uses three proven purification processes—
microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light—to
produce highly purified water. The result, 8 million gallons
a day of highly purified water that is expected to match
California drinking water standards.
The $72 million purification center is a partnership between
the water district and the cities of San José and Santa Clara.
The highly purified water produced at the new purification
center is being blended with the recycled water supply
produced at the neighboring San José-Santa Clara Regional
Wastewater Facility to enhance its quality and expand
its usage.
The center will demonstrate proven technologies to produce
highly purified water that can be used for a variety of
purposes, including potentially expanding Silicon Valley’s
future drinking water supplies.
The purification processes
The purification center uses technology similar to Mother Nature’s filtration process, but with the advantage
of purifying the water more quickly.
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Microfiltration
In this initial filtration process, treated wastewater is forced through filtration membrane modules made up of
thousands of hollow fibers, similar to straws. These fibers have very fine pores in the sides that are 0.1 micron
in diameter, or about 1/300th the width of human hair. As the water is drawn through the pores into the
center of the fibers, solids, bacteria, protozoa and some viruses are filtered out of the water.
Reverse Osmosis
During the reverse osmosis process, water is forced under high pressure through membrane sheets with holes
so small that a water molecule is almost the only substance that can pass through. The process removes
constituents such as salts, viruses and most contaminants of emerging concern, such as pharmaceuticals,
personal care products and pesticides.
Ultraviolet Light
Now the water is very clean, but as a further safety back-up, the water is sent through chambers that emit
strong ultraviolet light to inactivate any remaining viruses and break down some of the remaining trace
organic compounds. Ultraviolet light is a powerful disinfection process that creates water of very high quality.
The technique is often used to sterilize medicines, food and fruit juices.
Reverse osmosis
Microfiltration
Ultraviolet light
Providing water for today and tomorrow
The new facility has received $8.25 million from the federal
American Recovery and Re-investment Act and $5.25
million from the California Department of Water Resources.
For more information on the project, visit purewater4u.org.
Water has been and always will be nature’s renewable
resource. An adequate supply of safe, reliable water is
crucial to sustain our economy and quality of life.
Benefits of the project:
However, we face a number of key challenges in providing
a reliable supply. Growing water demand, uncertain
imported water supplies, recurring droughts, regulatory
restrictions and climate change all place growing pressures
on the state’s water supplies and underscore the need for
new sources of water.
Our existing water sources, combined with expanded
water conservation efforts and water recycling, are
necessary if Silicon Valley is to continue to thrive.
With the new purification center, the water district is joining
many innovative cities and water agencies that are utilizing
water purification technologies to purify recycled water
so it can be used for various purposes. Investment in
this project will demonstrate proven technologies that
would be available locally to produce purified water for a
variety of potential purposes, including expanding future
drinking water supplies.
• Enhances recycle water quality
• Creates a locally controlled, high-quality
water supply
• Increases water reliability by providing
purified water in all times, even during droughts
• Helps reduce dependency on water from the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
• Protects the region’s groundwater supplies
• Protects the environment by reusing
a precious resource
• Reduces wastewater discharge to the
San Francisco Bay and preserves the natural
tidal habitat
CONTACT US
For more information or to take a tour of the
Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center,
contact Meenakshi Ganjoo at (408) 630-2295,
or visit our website at purewater4u.org.
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