How the IRWD Team Safeguards Your Water
Thanks to all of the IRWD customers who joined us July 10 for our Tap Water 101 community workshop. If you missed it, check out our new 3-minute video, “Journey of a Water Sample.” You’ll tag along with real IRWD scientists and water system operators as water makes its way to your drinking glass, sippy cup or pasta pot. Cheers!
IRWD Takes Precautions Against Fire, and You Can Too
Summer marks the official start of fire season: a time when high heat, dry brush and whipping winds spark an incendiary threat to nature, homes and humans.
Irvine Ranch Water District keeps watch to respond to fires and any corresponding loss of power in our service area, patrolling canyon areas and monitoring remote operations. It’s our job to ensure that facilities are protected and that water continues to be delivered to your tap and made available to firefighters battling blazes.
- Pump stations are equipped with automatic backup generators and fuel tanks to keep our water flowing.
- Brush is cleared around remote facilities to protect them from fire.
- IRWD participates in emergency drills with the Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County.
- We provide immediate emergency alerts to customers via CodeRED, a service available via voice mail, email or text.
IRWD customers living in the foothill and canyon areas can help to protect their homes by taking the following actions:
- Create a safety zone around your home by removing dead or dying vegetation.
- Plant drought-tolerant and fire-resistant plants that can serve as a firebreak near your home (monkeyflower, California lilac, autumn sage, common yarrow, French lavender).
- Prepare an emergency escape plan with your family that includes how to respond to any evacuation order.
- Visit ready.gov/wildfires for more tips and precautions.
Sign Up for CodeRED
To receive emergency alerts from IRWD, please sign up for CodeRED at irwd.com/emergency-codered or call 949-453-5300.
IRWD Customers Enjoy Free — and Guilt-Free — Recycled Water for Plants
Coming from South Africa, Analize Mans likes a lush, green garden, and she tends hers guilt-free.
She is one of many hard-core regulars to take advantage of IRWD’s Residential Recycled Water Filling Station, where District customers can drive up and fill their own containers with recycled water, for free.
Open daily, except on holidays and when it’s raining, the station operates out of the Sand Canyon Avenue facility. Mans comes as often as nine times in a week in hot weather — filling up a large plastic drum and a 250-gallon container that she found on the internet and purchased for $100 from a guy in L.A.
A well-used pickup makes the transport easier, but others have found innovative ways to take advantage of the program using ordinary passenger vehicles.
Station worker Tim Smith has seen people haul rain barrels inside the wheel wells of their SUVs. Some cram their trunks with rows of sealed buckets. A Prius owner found a flat, 200-gallon container that fits snugly inside the back of the car. “That’s environmental all around,” he said.
Mans uses the two containers in her truck exclusively for transport, and draws from them to fill other containers set up strategically in her garden once she gets home. A pump connected to an impact sprinkler, projects a rotating spray across the yard with a “chick-chick-chick-chick” — giving her plants all the water they need.
“I don’t use my in-ground irrigation system anymore,” Mans said.
Since 2015, she has collected more than 74,000 gallons of recycled water at the station: every drop of which used has meant a drop of drinking water saved.
Mans admits to spending some money to get her plan going, but in the end — she states proudly — she and her husband have saved a lot of money.
“This works really well for us,” she said. “I’m really thankful for the free water.”
Her avocado and papaya trees are grateful for it, too.
Customers must register in advance to take advantage of the program, and there are rules to be followed. For more information or to apply, visit irwd.com/services/fill-station or call 949-453-5500.
IRWD and Macquarie Capital Announce Completion of the Largest Behind-the-Meter Energy Storage Project in the U.S.
IRVINE, Calif. – Advancing the cause of sustainability, Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) and Macquarie Capital today announced completion of the nation’s largest energy storage system being used for on-site power – a 2.5 MW/15MWh installation now powering the District’s largest water recycling plant.
The award-winning behind-the-meter battery system at IRWD’s Michelson Water Recycling Plant is the centerpiece of an even larger 6.25 MW/35.7 MWh network of battery arrays set up at 6 water treatment, recycling and pumping facilities throughout the District. The project allows IRWD to buy and store energy when rates are low and use it to power operations during peak hours when the cost of electricity from the grid is high – saving the District approximately $500,000 in energy costs each year. It also provides a source of stored power for Southern California Edison (SCE) to rely on when necessary to avoid interruptions in service.
For over fifty years IRWD has owned and operated one of the most robust and technologically advanced recycled water systems in the nation. With about 545 miles of recycled water pipelines, 12 storage reservoirs, and more than 5,700 metered recycled water connections, IRWD delivers approximately 27,000 acre-feet — about 9 billion gallons — of recycled water per year.
The battery storage project is just part of the District’s ongoing mission to promote innovative and sustainable solutions to meet the water and resource recovery needs of the community. Recycled water makes up more than a quarter of the District’s water supply portfolio — reducing reliance on costlier imported water supplies, increasing the District’s self-sufficiency, keeping landscaping green and beautiful, supporting fertile agricultural areas, and fueling the local economy’s commercial and industrial needs.
Macquarie Capital is the owner and operator of the energy storage systems. It partnered with IRWD as part of its efforts to help modernize SCE’s electric grid across the utility’s West Los Angeles Basin service territory. The project was designed by tech startup Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) using lithium-ion power packs from Tesla Energy and AMS’ industry-leading transactive energy management platform.
“The completion of the Michelson battery project underscores the promise of grid-connected storage to deliver flexibility and value to utilities, customers and ratepayers alike,” said Michael Silverton, head of Macquarie Capital in the Americas.
A portion of IRWD’s energy storage network will be supplemented by renewable energy sources to further the economic and environmental benefits of the project.
“IRWD is incredibly proud of its investment in energy solutions that serve our customers more effectively and efficiently while helping SCE operate the grid,” said Paul Cook, general manager of IRWD. “This project underscores the District’s ongoing commitment to making the most of all resources as demonstrated by our highly successful water efficiency programs and history of providing recycled water service to the community for use in landscape irrigation, cooling towers and dual-plumbed buildings.”
“This project epitomizes the concept of storing surplus and saving it for later. As we experience more volatile climate extremes, which puts pressure on both water and electricity sources, IRWD will drive solutions to prepare for leaner times,” Cook added.
The energy storage project has won the Golden Hub of Innovation Award from the Association of California Cities, Orange County; and the Best Energy Program Award for medium utilities from the California Municipal Utilities Association.
Michelson Water Recycling Plant aerial view
Recycled water pumps
Tesla battery installation
About Irvine Ranch Water District | Irvine Ranch Water District is the largest retail water agency in Orange County, California. Established in 1961, IRWD provides high-quality drinking water, reliable sewage collection and treatment, ground-breaking recycled water programs, and environmentally sound urban runoff treatment to more than 390,000 residents. As an independent, not-for-profit public agency, IRWD is governed by a five-member publicly elected Board of Directors. To learn more, visit irwd.com.
About Macquarie Capital | Macquarie Capital combines grounded thinking with innovative approaches to develop transformative ideas and realize greater possibilities for our clients — our partners. We look beyond convention to connect our clients with ideas and opportunities others don’t see, while our global platform, specialized expertise and comprehensive services allow us to deliver what others can’t. Our capabilities encompass corporate advisory and a full spectrum of capital solutions, including capital raising services from equity, debt and private capital markets and principal investments from Macquarie’s own balance sheet. These offerings are reinforced through our deep sector expertise in aerospace, defense and government services, consumer, gaming and leisure, financial institutions, infrastructure and energy, real estate, resources, services, telecommunications, media and technology sectors across the U.S. with 402 transactions completed, valued at $264 billion in the year ended March 31, 2018.
About Advanced Microgrid Solutions | Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) is an energy platform and services company that designs, develops, optimizes, and monetizes energy assets to maximize customer value, provide dynamic grid and utility services, and earn revenues in wholesale energy markets. AMS’s business is powered by its industry-leading Transactive Energy Management Platform, which AMS and its partners utilize to offer compelling and innovative energy management services to customers, utilities, and asset owners and operators. To learn more, visit advmicrogrid.com and follow us on twitter: @advmicrogrid.
Contacts:
Beth Beeman
Irvine Ranch Water District
949-453-5500
David Franecki
Macquarie Group
212-231-1310
Carly Sorrentino
Advanced Microgrid Solutions
716-359-1205
Are You Getting the Right Water Budget for Your Home?
IRWD water bills are based on a monthly water budget established for customers based on typical living conditions and water needs for their dwelling type. We base these calculations on: (1) a default number of residents in a home, (2) an estimated square feet of landscape area, and (3) the amount of water needed seasonally to irrigate the yard. (See graphic for details.)
If your living situation exceeds the standard monthly allowance, we encourage you to apply for a variance, which can increase your water budget to account for circumstances such as additional people living in the home, special medical needs, and larger landscaped areas. Variances must be renewed annually. To apply, visit irwd.com/services/request-a-water-variance or call 949-453-5300.
