Black & Veatch, a global leader in critical infrastructure solutions, has been selected by The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) to provide preliminary design services for the first reach of the Pure Water Southern California (PWSC) conveyance system, marking the third agreement between the organizations under this program.
The program, which has water supply, environmental and economic benefits, is designed to take cleaned wastewater and purify it to produce a new, drought-proof source of high-quality water for Southern California. When completed, it will produce up to 150 million gallons of water daily, enough to serve more than 500,000 homes – making it one of the largest water recycling facilities in the world. Purified water from the facility would be delivered through up to 60 miles of new pipelines to the region’s groundwater basins, industrial facilities and two of Metropolitan’s water treatment plants.
The program, which has water supply, environmental and economic benefits, is designed to take cleaned wastewater and purify it to produce a new
Black & Veatch has worked with Metropolitan since 2016 to define and refine the program’s conveyance facilities and develop its potable reuse program, identifying and assessing key pipeline alignment risks. As Metropolitan moves the first two reaches of the program into design, Black & Veatch will combine its conceptual open trench and trenchless technical and constructability evaluations with its ongoing agency permitting coordination, utility research, field geotechnical exploration and Metropolitan’s survey mapping for preliminary design.
“This contract represents an important milestone for Pure Water Southern California’s mission to produce a new, sustainable source of high-quality water for the region,” said Matt Thomas, Southern California area director for Black & Veatch. “We look forward to our continued work with Metropolitan in supporting this critical, game-changing water reliability program.”
The first reach covers approximately 6 miles of 84-inch diameter pipeline through the City of Carson. Black & Veatch’s and Metropolitan’s efforts may follow a compressed schedule to meet early delivery targets and complete construction prior to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
