Our clients are typically small wastewater plant owners, such as multi-family residential properties, public facility owners, developers, and commercial property owners who manage business complexes, shopping centers and restaurants. In addition, we frequently work with public schools and state and local agencies.
Here is a sample of the work that we do and the results we achieved:
Multi-family Residential Properties
Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park
Positioned on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the Paradise Cove Mobile Home Park is the most expensive mobile home community in the United States. It was also one of the very first properties in Malibu to upgrade to a decentralized, onsite water treatment system. We designed and permitted everything for this system, soup to nuts – small-diameter variable grade sewers, septic tank clusters, lift stations, Orenco AdvanTex secondary treatment, UV-ozone disinfection, and subsurface irrigation. Our work on this project not only brought the mobile home park into compliance with the RWQCB, but also substantially improved the quality of their wastewater infrastructure. The owner and water agency collaborated to recycle all of the treated water. We engineered a compact water recycling system that freed up valuable land and produces water suitable for landscape irrigation throughout the park.
Meadowbrook RV Park
The Meadowbrook RV Park, a low-income senior residential community, urgently needed a new septic system – the least expensive option that would improve treatment and substantially improve onsite disposal. Therefore, at a very discounted rate, we designed a simple aeration system with bacteria augmentation and odor controls. For disposal, we recommended a large mound system – the largest in Southern California – which the county approved. This solution saved several hundred thousand dollars in construction and dramatically improved the quality of life for Meadowbrook’s residents.
Commercial Properties
Trancas Country Market
For decades, the Trancas Country Market was an aesthetically and structurally outdated shopping center that only serviced local beach goers. Today, it’s a vibrant LEED-certified shopping hub with three restaurants, a market and deli, several small retail stores, and a nursery. Part of Trancas’ revitalization plan included designing a comprehensive wastewater treatment system, which we headed up. Due to the highly sensitive groundwater environment near the ocean, Malibu residents were worried about the potential for pollution that a new wastewater system might produce. In response to the citizens’ concerns, we ensured there would be no ground contamination by developing pollutant loadings for an extensive groundwater delineation model. Additionally, we designed secondary biofiltration; a peat-based denitrification system; and UV disinfection with in-ground, onsite disposal.
Restaurants & Resorts
Paradise Cove Beach Cafe
The Paradise Cove Beach Cafe, located directly on the historic Paradise Cove Beach in Malibu is a nostalgic delight among Southern Californians. When the Cafe upgraded to a 300-seat beachside restaurant, we designed and permitted for them an expanded wastewater treatment system that safeguarded the health of the ocean and all beach-goers. Every aspect of the treatment system was modernized. We incorporated the use of chlorination for disinfection; replaced a one-acre subsurface drip system in the forested beachside slope; and recommended the Cafe use an alternative meat-thawing method that ended up reducing their water consumption by over 30%.
The Oasis in the Desert
People from around the world come to visit Death Valley’s Oasis in the Desert (formerly Furnace Creek Resort), filling it to capacity year-round. This unique resort stands 200 feet below sea level and is a completely self-sufficient, lush oasis in the middle of the desert. The Oasis in the Desert called on us to prepare the design, permitting, and construction drawings for their new 85,000 gallon per day water treatment system using AXMAX. They engaged us in this project after we successfully mapped a treatment and disposal system for them and identified significant electrical concerns. The map pointed out areas of malfunction throughout the 150,000 gallon per day extended aeration treatment and disposal field and gave estimated upgrade costs. We selected a bio-filtration treatment process that reduced both energy cost and operator oversight of the system. We prepared an extensive set of construction plans and specification. We analyzed the disposal system and designed shallow subsurface drip dispersal for the golf course driving range to supplement irrigation.
Local Agencies
County Operations Center
The County Operations Center, a LEED Platinum office complex, was the first of its kind within the San Diego city limits to evaluate an onsite water system to capture and recycle all its water. This efficient decentralized water system will replace 20,000 gallons per day of fresh water for the Operations Center’s cooling towers, which provide air conditioning to all 12 of their large buildings. We started by preparing a technical and financial feasibility study that calculated how much water could be recycled and how it could be used, then identified the appropriate technology for the job. We successfully developed the recycled water concept by working with contractors and suppliers. We prepared realistic project costs and sewer rate projections for the Operations Center with an investment payback period of 12 years.
The City of Fillmore
In this exciting project for the City of Fillmore, California, we helped four public schools, a new municipal park, and an historic right-of-way reduce outdoor water consumption by 20%-40%. This was accomplished by designing more than 30 acres of subsurface drip irrigation systems that used only recycled water. We performed all calculations, developed the designs, prepared specifications and drawings, and provided construction support. At the entirely new Two Rivers Park, virtually all sports fields are irrigated subsurface per our design using recycled water.
Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
We needed to wear both shorts and a parka to complete our three onsite water treatment systems for the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. Two of the systems were installed in freezing temperatures at high elevation in the San Jacinto mountains; the other was installed on the valley floor in the searing heat. The systems atop the mountain required a particularly unconventional method of installation – via air travel. To ensure we weren’t intruding on the protected grounds any more than necessary, all materials to build the systems had to be delivered by either tram car or helicopter. We completed the project by preparing two source reduction plans to conserve water and remove toxins from wastewater. Our water-conserving recommendations included commercial kitchen practices as well as state-of-the-art near waterless toilets in public restrooms.
Estates and Multi-facility Compounds
Saint Michael’s Abbey
Nestl
ed in the hills of Silverado Canyon in Orange County, the new large monastery and convent of Saint Michael’s Abbey needed an efficient onsite wastewater system that would treat existing contaminants and produce high quality water. We conducted a technology assessment to select a treatment system appropriate to their specific demographics, we located an ideal site – discrete and with excellent soil for disposal of the treated water. We selected a biofiltration treatment plant that was easily expandable for future phases of the development at sites like the Abbey. Some treatment components were arranged in separate locations throughout the property, with the main facility located some distance from the Abbey’s activity centers. All disposal uses subsurface drip dispersal.
El Rancho Escondido
El Rancho Escondido was a complex of remnant estate buildings from the famous Wrigley family, founders of Wrigley’s chewing gum. The Wrigley family built El Rancho on the highlands of Catalina Island as a summer retreat. The property was authentically upgraded from a genuine “old California” ranch to a truly historic home acclimated to modern standards. El Rancho retained the horse ranch, added a vineyard and a chapel. And has become a welcome stop for tourist of the back country. We designed El Rancho’s treatment system to be built in multiple phases. Permitting was through the LA Regional Water Quality Control Board and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. All wastewater receives advanced treatment and disinfection using an extraordinarily stable treatment process that is perfect for this remote location.