Xylem to deliver filtration technology for California’s water treatment plant

Xylem has secured a contract to deliver advanced filtration technology to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s FE Weymouth Water Treatment Plant in La Verne, US.

The contract is part of a project to retrofit the water treatment plant with biologically active filtration and ozone. Weymouth plant treats water supplied from the Colorado River Aqueduct and the state project water (SPW) California Aqueduct.

The plant will be supplied with Xylem’s 92,736ft² Leopold Type XA underdrains equipped with IMS 200 media retainers, and Leopold dual media sand and anthracite.

As a part of the contract, Xylem will deliver 3,284t of sand and 5,738t of anthracite to the plant.

Weymouth Plant manager Jim Kostelecky was quoted by Water Online as saying: "The plant was placed in service in 1941, initially with mono-media filters and a clay tile underdrain.

"As the plant was expanded concrete, tee-pee underdrains were installed and all of the filters were converted to dual media filters.

"The Xylem Leopold Type XA underdrains provided us with an opportunity to remove the old underdrains and support gravel and install substantially deeper layers of sand and anthracite, without a significant impact to the plant’s existing hydraulic profile.

"Based on previously conducted full-scale testing, it is anticipated that the new retrofit filters will provide a far more robust filtration process, which will be in-service for another 75 years or more."

With construction work already underway, phase one of the new plant is slated to be operational in the first quarter of this year.

The Leopold IMS 200 media retainer installed by Xylem will be able to replace up to 14in of support gravel for an even lower profile.

The Type XA underdrain facilitates new installations, as well as retrofits, generating unsurpassed backwash air and water distribution and performance. It also provides more uplift resistance of 30lb per square inch.