Back in 2013, the California Coastal Commission denied the permit for Morro Bay’s then 60-year-old wastewater treatment plant, directing the city to relocate the facility to a more inland area consistent with the Coastal Act policies. But the existing facility was directly on the beach, not far from Morro Rock, right in a floodplain that discharged into the Pacific Ocean. The old facility was in need of a major upgrade to meet the upcoming tightened regulatory requirements of the federal Clean Water Act and the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board. The city recognized this situation as an opportunity to solve the problem at hand and to also proactively solve problems of the future.

Photo courtesy Black & Veatch

The newly constructed $79-million Morro Bay Water Reclamation Facility (WRF) improves the quality of water being sent to the ocean outfall, thereby protecting the environment, tourism and fishing. Its location shifted to an inland area, away from flood risk, and created a sustainable, local water resource by producing high purity reclaimed water for indirect potable reuse (IPR) and injection into the groundwater supply aquifer.

Morro Bay WRF is the first permitted and operational membrane bioreactor IPR plant in California, what will be the first of many on the West Coast thanks to the compact footprint and performance of this technology combination.

Photo courtesy Black & Veatch

External environmental and property acquisition issues delayed the start of construction, but the team used that time to collaboratively evaluate and incorporate post GMP owner-requested changes and advance procurement of long-lead items. The changes resulted in a better facility while maintaining the budget and recovering a good portion of the lost schedule. Meanwhile, the offsite wastewater feed and effluent discharge pipeline project under construction by a separate project team was delayed, which also delayed the WRF’s startup. Both teams worked together to come up with a series of workarounds, including tying the influent and effluent lines together to create an onsite testing loop. These allowed for equipment startup, check-out and wet commissioning to be performed while the offsite pipelines were being completed and reduced a nine-month delay to only three.

Photo courtesy Black & Veatch

A major test came in January 2023, when historic flooding submerged the city’s old wastewater treatment plant and rendered it inoperable. Despite starting up just two months before, the new WRF remained online throughout the storm while treating influent of significantly higher flows and worse quality than it was designed to treat. The new WRF did this while maintaining discharge permit quality and avoiding an ecological and economic disaster for the region.