UC Irvine and Irvine Ranch Water District officials toss ceremonial buckets of water into the cooling towers to kick off the new project. (Shown here, right to left, are UCI Associate Chancellor for Sustainability Wendell Brase, IRWD Board President Douglas J. Reinhart, UCI CFO and Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Ron Cortez, IRWD Board Vice President Steven E. LaMar and IRWD Board of Directors members Mary Aileen Matheis and Peer Swan.)

Irvine Ranch Water District and the University of California, Irvine, have dedicated UCI’s renovated Central Plant — retrofitted to use recycled water for cooling campus buildings.

The most significant conservation accomplishment in UCI’s 50-year collaboration with IRWD, the Central Plant conversion will save more than 80 million gallons of drinking water annually – roughly what 3,300 households use in a year.

For more than half a century, IRWD has been a national leader in the production and use of recycled water. IRWD worked with UCI on the planning, design and construction of the project, engineered to meet IRWD and UCI standards.

“IRWD continues to be in the forefront of recycled water,” said Douglas J. Reinhart, president of the IRWD Board of Directors. “And we are proud of our partnership with UCI.” He was among IRWD and UCI officials who launched the renovated Central Plant with a dedication ceremony Aug. 15.

The renovation was a collaborative effort. Working at night for almost a year to avoid interrupting campus traffic by day, IRWD constructed 3,000 feet of pipeline to transport recycled water from its Michelson Water Recycling Plant to the UCI Central Plant – which cools 65 buildings throughout campus. UCI retrofitted the on-campus plant and installed additional filtration systems to further treat the water.

As a result, UCI will achieve its stretch goal to reduce per-capita drinking water use 50% by 2025 – and it puts the campus well ahead of the statewide University of California goal to cut water usage 36% by 2025.

In addition to saving 80 million gallons with the cooling plant conversion, UCI saves 70 million gallons of drinking water per year from previous recycled water irrigation projects completed in collaboration with IRWD.

“UCI is one of the nation’s greenest universities, and we like to set the bar high for environmental stewardship,” said Wendell Brase, associate chancellor of sustainability at UCI. “This would not be possible without our partnership with IRWD.”

Jerry Nearhoof, UCI’s assistant director of utilities operations and facilities management, directs a tour of the university’s Central Plant, which now cools 65 buildings across campus using recycled water.

IRWD recently helped UCI convert the university's Central Plant cooling towers (shown here) to recycled water, saving 80 million gallons of drinking water annually.

A recycled water storage tank, shown in the background, provides the water capacity needed to operate the cooling towers at right.

A view of the internal operations of the university's Central Plant, which provides chilled air to 65 buildings on campus.

A household's outdoor water use can be as high as 60% for irrigation and watering – save money and water use with one of our outdoor rebates.

• Receive $4 per nozzle when you replace at least 30 of your conventional spray heads with high-efficiency nozzles. These types of nozzles apply water slowly and uniformly to your landscape, encouraging healthy plant growth.
• Receive $90 per eligible drip irrigation kit and $0.20 per square foot when you replace your spray head sprinklers with a drip irrigation system. Drip systems avoid the inefficiencies caused by spray head irrigation, like misting and evaporation, by delivering water to the roots of the plants and minimizing weed growth.
• Receive up to $2 per square foot by replacing your water thirsty grass with a drought friendly landscape. To be eligible for the Turf Removal Program, the landscape transformation plan must include a rainwater capture or filtration system to reduce rainwater onto sidewalks and streets and capture rainwater for reuse. Some eligible methods to meet this participation requirement includes rain gardens, rock gardens, dry river beds, swales, berms, grades and rain barrels/cisterns.

Learn more about rebate program requirements at rightscapenow.com/rebates.

July is Smart Irrigation Month and IRWD is spotlighting the use of recycled water in local landscaping. Fun fact: 80% of the public and commercial irrigated landscape in our service area—including parks, medians and golf courses—is watered with recycled water.

IRWD’s recycled water is not for drinking or for other uses inside the home. But it is vital to IRWD’s water-efficiency program and a driver of the local economy, because every gallon of recycled water saves a gallon of drinking water. Each year, IRWD recycles about 9 billion gallons of water and stores it in reservoirs for use in dry times—a priority as we experience more volatile climate extremes.

Recycled water is produced through a multi-step treatment process and delivered through an extensive distribution system. This dedicated system keeps recycled water completely separate from drinking water, using purple pipe for easy identification. The system includes more than 500 miles of pipe and is still growing. IRWD pioneered the purple piping, which has become the international symbol for recycled water.

Sites in the IRWD service area that use recycled water in landscaping include the University of California, Irvine; Irvine Valley College; golf courses such as Strawberry Farms and Shady Canyon; the Great Park; the Villages of Irvine; and many more.

For more information

• Be water smart! Save money with outdoor rebates at rightscapenow.com/rebates/residential-rebates.
• IRWD offers free recycled water for your garden. To learn about our Residential Recycled Water Filling Station and meet some people who use it, visit irwd.com/services/fill-station.

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!