Pure Water Monterey will utilize secondary treated water pumped into the Advanced Treatment Plant which would be put through an additional four-step Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) purification process of Ozone (O3) Pre-Treatment, Membrane Filtration (MF), Reverse Osmosis (RO), and Oxidation with Ultra Violet Light (UV) and Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). These methods are commonly used in processing strictly regulated items for public consumption like baby food and bottled water. The purified water is near distilled quality and exceeds all drinking water standards.

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Let’s take a closer look at the individual Advanced Water Purification steps:

(Click images to enlarge.)

Step 1: Ozone Pre-Treatment

With Ozone (O3) Pre-Treatment, Ozone, a powerful disinfectant is added to the water. It destroys bacteria and other pathogens preparing the treated water for Step 2

Step 2: Membrane Filtration

In Membrane Filtration (MF) treated wastewater is pushed through a filter with pores 300th the size of a human hair.  MF is used regularly to in food production such as baby food, bottled water and beer.

Step 3: Reverse Osmosis

The use of reverse osmosis technology (RO) is also quite common.  Water is pushed through semi-permeable membranes under high pressure.  RO is used to produce bottled drinking water and ultra-clean water for making computer wafers and other hi-tech industries.  RO is the standard technology used to remove salts from seawater for human consumption.  It is so effective, RO is used on the International Space Stations to make drinking water on space shuttles.

Step 4: UV Disinfection & Hydrogen Peroxide

At this stage, the water is already of a high grade water quality, pure enough for public consumption. The Pure Water Monterey project, however, adds a fourth step to ensure the water’s purity and definitively remove any molecules that may have slipped through.  This is done by oxidizing the water with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the presence of ultraviolet light (UV). Together, these break apart any chemical bonds that may be present.  This ensures water disinfection and purity.

The resulting purified water would then be pH-adjusted and piped to the aquifer recharge area in Seaside where it is planned to be either injected in the upper “vadose” zone of the groundwater or deeper into the aquifer itself.  There, the highly purified water mixes with established groundwater, improving its quality before being pumped out six months later.