CSU Channel Islands Reclaimed Water use in Central Plant Jose Chanes Associate Director of Infrastructure and Energy Facilities Services

Outline CSU Channel Islands, Who, What, Where Water Conservation at CI What is the Central Plant? Project Goals Project Proposal & Budget Central Plant Overview Challenges & Solutions Project Outcomes Relevancy to Best Practices

We are CI 23 rd Cal State, 2002, 1200 Acres, 5000 FTE 175 Arces Campus Proper, 30 Buildings 1MM GSF for Facilities Services to support 20% Energy Manager w/ one Sustainability Analyst

Water Conservation Success CSU Channel Islands has: Reduced domestic water consumption by 19% Reduced reclaimed water by 46% ( Based on an HCF/Acre based on average ) Annual savings = $196,000 + $83,000 = $279,000

How did we get there? 19% HCF/FTES Reduction in Domestic Water 99% Irrigation converted to Reclaimed water Replacement of inefficient sink aerators with.5 gpm units. Continuous replacement of legacy inefficient toilets with low-flow units. Student housing villages received full retrofits replacing inefficient shower heads, restroom sink aerators and kitchen sink aerators. 46% HCF/Acre reduction in reclaimed water Increased irrigation efficiency Weather Based Irrigation Controllers Conversion of Turf to Planter Beds

What’s next on our list?

What is the Central Plant? The Central Plant’s purpose is to supply hot and chilled water that it used to heat and cool campus buildings. The operation of the Central Plant required the use of domestic water for the BAC Cooling Towers. Understanding the value of domestic water, the campus viewed this as a unique opportunity to utilize our local reclaimed water supply.

Project Goals The goal of this project was to save and protect the valuable domestic water supply, reduce water treatment costs, while increasing operational efficiencies.

Project Proposal & Budget Replace domestic water in the BAC towers with reclaimed water. Requires: 1. Alter valve positions within the plant to use reclaimed water with proper backflow device. 2. Removal of the large water softener canisters. 3. New water treat vendor using an Alkaline treatment control strategy. This project had a relatively small budget of $10,000.

Central Plant Cooling Tower Overview

Inlet Valve

Chemical Control Station and Injection

Bleed Off

Solids Filtration System Side Stream Filtration: Concentrated dissolved solids such as calcium, magnesium, chloride, and silica are left behind and sent to sewer.

Vent/Fan Area Boiled off water (Evaporated water) or sometime droplets ( drift )

Reclaimed water added Make-up ( New Reclaimed System ) = Evaporation + Blowdown + Drift

Challenges Many challenges due to the SUPPLY / QUALITY of reclaimed / recycled water. Not considered urgent by the Utility Quality only monitored at outlet of chlorination basin. High variability of storage / time lag to University.

Solutions With challenges comes solutions. 1.The higher conductivity of the reclaimed water affects on how many times the same water could be used in the cooling tower. (Cycles of concentration.).. Using improved controls to monitor 2.High levels of phosphates, difficult to control/prevent scaling. Large variances in the residual chlorine levels, impact on the corrosion rates for the chiller internals– Supply / Treatment Rigor

Project Outcome CI saved: 25,000 Gallons/day of domestic water 8,750,000 Gallons/year of domestic water $26,000 annually in water costs $30,000 annually in chemical costs

Relevancy to Best Practice By using reclaimed water in the Central Plant, the University is able to keep occupant comfort at the same level, while cutting the use of domestic water and saving the campus over $56,000 annually. During the conversion process, the engineers were also able to refine the chemical treatment process that is required when using water in the cooling tower.

Thanks for the opportunity … Questions? Jose Chanes, AD Infrastructure and Energy