LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For years, managers at Tri-Star Dyeing and Finishing Inc. in Santa Fe Springs faced the challenge of meeting pollutant limits for its discharged water effluent, costing the fabric-dyeing company valuable time and money.
Working with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the company advanced a mutually beneficial solution that saves time, money and—most importantly—water.
Tri-Star is installing a water recycling system at its facility with the help of nearly $700,000 in incentives from Metropolitan. Instead of discharging its waste water, the company will treat it using microfiltration and reverse osmosis and reuse it in the dyeing process.
“It’s a win-win-win,” Metropolitan board Chairman Randy Record said. “Tri-Star saves money, we conserve a lot of water, and the environment is protected from polluted discharge.”
The Tri-Star project is expected to save approximately 3,540 acre feet of water the next decade, making it eligible for an incentive of up to $692,000 under an agreement approved this month by Metropolitan’s board. Tri-Star’s dye machines currently use about 160 million gallons—491 acre-feet—of water a year to process more than 16 million pounds of fabric. (An acre-foot of water is nearly 326,000 gallons, about the amount used by two typical Southland households in and around the home in a year.)
Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said the incentives for Tri-Star are provided by the district’s Water Savings Incentive Program, which offers funding for commercial, industrial, agricultural and large landscape projects that reduce water consumption. Projects are funded based on how much water they save; recipients can receive up to $195 per acre-foot of water saved for up to 10 years.
“We’re looking everywhere we can to save water,” Kightlinger said. “There is water to be saved in homes, on farms, on golf courses and in industrial facilities. Metropolitan is working hard to support water savings at all of them.”
Metropolitan has funded 125 projects through the Water Savings Incentive Program over the past four years, for an expected savings of nearly 30,000 acre-feet of water.
“There are a lot of opportunities to conserve water at commercial and industrial facilities, but each facility usually requires a unique and innovative approach, not a one-size-fits-all solution. The Water Savings Incentive Program allows us to support customized projects that reduce water use at different types of facilities,” Kightlinger said. “It is one of a portfolio of programs and investments that build our local supplies and help us secure water reliability long into the future by reducing our reliance on imported water.”
The Tri-Star project involves installing an electro-coagulation based recycling system that removes colors and suspended solids. The water recycling process will be completed with ozone treatment, manganese greensand filters, microfiltration and reverse osmosis. The system is expected to save more than 70 percent of the water used.
Tri-Star anticipates the $3 million recycling system will pay for itself in a few years, according to project consultant Derek Kim.
“Once they install the new units, their discharge issues will go away, and they’ll save a lot of water and a lot of money,” said Kim, director of business development for Econity, which produces the recycling system. “Right now, they spend about $200,000 a month for water-related costs, including discharge and operation and maintenance. Once it’s installed, they will pay around $150,000.”
Under WSIP, Metropolitan will make its first payment to Tri-Star after the project is installed and operating. It will make another payment after one year of monitoring to verify the actual water savings. The incentive may not exceed 50 percent of eligible project costs.
In August, Metropolitan’s board also approved $1.8 million in WSIP incentives for three other dye companies—Lekos Dye and Finishing in Rancho Dominguez, Hitex Dyeing and Finishing in the city of Industry, and Daeshin USA, Inc. in Fullerton—for a total anticipated water savings of 9,180 acre-feet over 10 years.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a state-established cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving nearly 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.
