Grants received by VVWRA save Victor Valley millions (January 20, 2016)

VICTORVILLE — The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority has received a number of grants in recent years that have helped save local member agencies and ratepayers tens of millions of dollars in interest and construction costs, while providing the Victor Valley with much needed infrastructure, VVWRA officials announced in a press release.

Thanks to more than $71 million in grants, VVWRA has launched an industry leading Waste to Energy program, started construction on two water recycling facilities and is making massive emergency repairs to the sewer interceptor through the Upper Mojave Narrows.

According to VVWRA officials, grants are funds made available for specific projects by government departments, corporations or foundations. They can also take the form of debt forgiveness or incentive refunds and they don’t have to be repaid.

One example was a $3 million principal forgiveness grant VVWRA received to help with the Phase 3A regulatory improvements. The Phase 3A improvements led to construction of state-ofthe-art filtration and UV disinfection projects at the VVWRA plant to increase the availability of recycled water, VVWRA officials said.

VVWRA’s groundbreaking Waste to Energy program was made possible by a combination of grants, Southern California Edison incentive rebates and a unique public/private partnership that resulted in no additional cost to ratepayers, according to the release.

VVWRA teamed with Anaergia Inc. to build the Omnivore system, creating a dramatic increase in the production of methane, which is being used to fuel a pair of 800 kwh 2G generators. The generators are capable of producing enough electricity to meet all of VVWRA’s power needs, essentially making the plant carbon neutral, the release said.

In addition, with the assistance of four different grants, VVWRA has also been able to drastically reduce the cost of muchneeded infrastructure projects, including the two sub-regional water reclamation plants currently under construction in Hesperia and Apple Valley.

According VVWRA General Manager Logan Olds, total planning, engineering and construction costs for the two sub-regionals is around $80 million. VVWRA and its member agencies have managed to obtain about $21 million in grants for these projects.

Those grants amount to a 26-percent discount on our sub-regional facilities, which saves our member agencies and ratepayers millions in finance and loan costs, Olds said.

When completed in 2017, the sub-regional water reclamation plants in Apple Valley and Hesperia will be able to recycle up to 1 million gallons of water per day, according to the release. Olds said the water will initially be used for above-ground irrigation at the Hesperia and Apple Valley golf courses, saving hundreds of thousands of gallons of potable drinking water every day.

Source: Daily Press