Lancaster and Palmdale Water Reclamation Plants Continue the Environmental Friendly Direction of County of Los Angeles

Many ask us what are those big pond near Hwy 14, and what are they building at 120th Street West? Well lets let LA Count tell the story about these Environmentally Friendly Projects: The Lancaster Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) is located at 1865 West Avenue "D" in the City of Lancaster and occupies 554 acres east of the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway. The plant was placed in operation on September 24, 1959, with an initial capacity of 6.5 million gallons per day. It replaced a previous plant which was located on Avenue H between 20th and 30th Streets West. This original plant began operation on December 2, 1941. THE CURRENT OPERATION The Lancaster WRP provides tertiary treatment for up to 18 million gallons of wastewater per day (see flow diagram below). The Lancaster WRP plant serves a population of approximately 160,000 people. In addition to producing reclaimed water, the Lancaster WRP processes all wastewater solids generated at the plant. The wastewater solids are anaerobically digested, centrifugally dewatered, and stored in concrete lined drying beds where some additional drying occurs. The dried bio-solids are hauled away and beneficially reused. Methane gas is produced during the digestion process and is used to fuel the boiler used to heat the anaerobic digesters. The Lancaster WRP has historically supported the Antelope Valley Tertiary Treatment Plant, which uses chemical coagulation and dual-media filtration to remove additional amounts of phosphorus from reclaimed water. On average, 3 million gallons per day of the Lancaster WRP effluent is reused at a local farm for irrigation of fodder crops, nearly 3 million gallons per day are sent to Piute Ponds to maintain 200 acres of wetlands as a wildlife refuge, and approximately 0.5 million gallons per day of water is reused at the Apollo Lakes Regional Park during most of the year to maintain the water level in the lakes and for irrigation. The Palmdale Water Plant The Palmdale Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) is located at 39300 30th Street East in the City of Palmdale. The plant currently occupies 286 acres east of the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway. It was placed in operation in September 1953 and had a capacity of 0.75 million gallons per day. THE CURRENT OPERATION The Palmdale WRP is a tertiary treatment plant with solids processing facilities. The plant provides primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment for a design capacity of 12 million gallons of wastewater per day (see flow diagram below). The plant serves a population of approximately 150,000 people. Effluent is reused for irrigation of trees and fodder crops on City of Los Angeles Department of Airports' property and also for parks in the city of Palmdale. The Palmdale WRP processes all wastewater solids generated within its service area. The wastewater solids are anaerobically digested, stored, and then dewatered using centrifuges. The dewatered cake, or biosolids, is hauled away for agricultural land application.