The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a “green tip” to our readers in each newspaper. This edition’s tip was written by Zero Waste Team member Eric Appleman.
A group of Resilient Palisades members toured the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in Playa del Rey on May 9.
Hyperion, run by City of Los Angeles Sanitation & Environment, covers 144 acres and processes 260 to 275 million gallons of influent liquid wastewater and sewage, including one million pounds of solids, daily. Hyperion can handle up to 450 million gallons daily and up to 800 million gallons in wet weather.
The sign at the Hyperion’s front gate labels it as a “water reclamation plant” rather than a “sewage treatment plant,” which is what I’ve always thought of it as. Our Resilient Palisades group was very fortunate to have senior environmental engineer Sheri Symons show us around and give us some understanding of functioning of the plant.
Hyperion’s origins trace back to 1894, when an outfall at Dockweiler Beach, which is at a natural low point, was put in to discharge sewage from Los Angeles into Santa Monica Bay.
In 1925 a screening plant was built, but at that point and through the first half of the 20th century, it was still raw sewage going into the ocean.
Finally in 1950 the modern Hyperion facility was built. In the 1990s significant upgrades were made to ensure secondary treatment was Clean Water Act compliant. Now there are ambitious plans to transform Hyperion to recycle 100% of wastewater to potable water by 2035.
In addition to Hyperion, three smaller plants serve parts of the Los Angeles area: Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles Glendale Water Reclamation Plant, adjacent to the Eastern edge of Griffith Park, and Terminal Island Collection System and Treatment Plant. Hyperion staff numbers around 372 people.
A key point to understand about Hyperion (and other modern sewage treatment plants) is that the incoming wastewater (influent) ends up being processed in two treatment streams: one for solids and one for liquids.
Large solid material and grit are trucked to landfill while as many as 30 truckloads of treated biosolids (sludge) daily are transported to the 4,688-acre Green Acres Farm in Kern County west of Bakersfield to fertilize feed crops. It is hard to believe, but up until 1987 sludge was discharged into Santa Monica Bay through a seven-mile outfall pipe. Use of sludge for agriculture was controversial, and Kern County engaged in a decade-long legal battle against the City of Los Angeles, which finally ended in 2016.
Most of the treated water goes out into Santa Monica Bay through the five-mile outfall pipe where it is released at a depth of 180 to 190 feet. A smaller volume goes to the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility in El Segundo, where it is directed to industrial and irrigation purposes.
Another interesting point about Hyperion is that it uses a huge amount of energy—about 20 MW per day—but is energy self sufficient. A co-generation facility (biogas power plant) completed in 2016 uses the gases produced by the giant egg-shaped anaerobic digesters to produce steam and electricity, while at the same time reducing emissions.
Treatment combines natural processes and technology. Indeed, Hyperion is a great place to learn about chemistry, biology and physics. For example, in primary treatment, ferric chloride helps flocculate (form clusters) and coagulate particles such as heavy metals. In secondary treatment, use of high purity oxygen produced by the on-site cryogenic facility enhances the activity of microbes (+).
Around the plant, gravity is frequently used to move liquid flows; additionally Archimedes screw pumps move primary effluent to secondary treatment.
As with any infrastructure system, problems can arise. The most dramatic episode occurred on July 11, 2021, when the primary treatment screens were overwhelmed by solid waste, leading to untreated wastewater flooding more than half the Hyperion plant, seriously damaging electrical systems and equipment, and sending 12.5 million gallons of sewage into Santa Monica Bay.
On the day of our tour, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported that approximately 14,400 gallons of untreated sewage was released into nearby Ballona Creek, leading the department to issue an “ocean water use warning” for area beaches; the details of how and where the leak happened were not clear.
Hyperion faces a steady stream of maintenance costs due to corrosion and wear and tear on equipment. At a time when the City of Los Angeles faces a significant budget shortfall, officials should remember that making short-sighted cuts could ultimately lead to small or large disasters in future.
Finally, there is the very ambitious Hyperion 2035 plan, which has a projected cost of $3 to 3.5 billion. The project is in its early stages, but a decade from now the Hyperion plant could have a very different look as promising technologies, such as membrane bioreactors, are implemented.
There will no doubt be challenges—from the presence of microplastics and PFAS (forever chemicals) to just getting people to accept the notion of reclaimed water—but if the plan is realized, it could go a long way toward meeting Los Angeles’ water needs.
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