We designed an environmentally friendly water treatment plant that reduces dependency on groundwater resources

Vineyard Surface Water Treatment Plant

Historically, most of the water delivered to Sacramento County Water Agency customers has been from underground aquifers, which are becoming significantly depleted. Built as part of a conjunctive use program, the Vineyard Surface Water Treatment Plant helps reduce dependency on these local groundwater resources by providing high-quality drinking water from the Sacramento River. This allows the aquifers to naturally replenish.

The 50 MGD plant uses conventional surface-water treatment processes like flash mixing, coagulation-flocculation, filtration, and chlorination for disinfection. The solids handling processes minimize waste-stream flows to the sanitary sewer while optimizing treated-water quality. A sludge lagoon provides a drying bed for solids produced by the centrifuges, reducing water content by 50% before landfill disposal. A fish-gate capture system at the flow-control structure monitors performance of fish screens at the intake on the Sacramento River.

The 38,000 square-foot administration and operations building is LEED® Gold certified. It features extensive use of natural lighting, reduced use of water, on-site solar panels, and computer-controlled lighting heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.