In November, stainless steel domes were lifted with a crane onto three egg-shaped methane digesters at the Irvine Ranch Water District’s Biosolids and Energy Recovery construction site, marking a significant milestone for the project. Construction on the facility began in 2013, with completion expected in early 2017.

The $167 million Biosolids and Energy Recovery Project is hailed as a state-of-the art organics-handling system, located at the Michelson Water Recycling Plant in Irvine. Biosolids are the organics removed during the recycled water treatment process. They will be converted into pellets for use as fertilizer and the biogas produced during the process will be used to generate electricity.

The egg-shaped digesters are considered the heart of the facility for their function. Sewage sludge, the by-product of the water recycling plant, will fill the egg-shaped digesters up to the bottom of their stainless steel domes. The bacteria in the digesters will reduce the volume of sludge and generate biogas. It is here that the biogas will be collected under the dome, cleaned and used on-site to generate the electricity to help power the recycling process at MWRP. The remaining sludge will be dried and made into fertilizer.

The egg-shaped digesters are constructed of carbon steel metal plates, bolted together and seismically bolted to the foundation. They will be covered with green metal cladding when complete. The unique shape is seen as more efficient for heating and mixing than digesters shaped like water tanks and used at other treatment facilities.

Processing biosolids on-site at the Michelson Water Recycling Plant is expected to save IRWD customers an average of $100 each year over the next 20 years. Currently, biosolids produced at MWRP are sent through buried pipelines to the Orange County Sanitation District for processing.

More information about the Biosolids and Energy Recovery Project is available on our website.

If one of your News Year’s resolutions includes a drought-tolerant yard, IRWD can help.

Beginning January, IRWD will offer a new series of workshops taught by local professional landscapers on how to design and install a beautiful, water-efficient landscape.

Workshops will include instruction on topics such as:

• Beginner's guide to designing a drought tolerant landscape
• How to choose beautiful drought tolerant plants for your yard
• How to convert from sprinkler to drip
• Using hardscape in your landscape

For workshop locations, scheduled and sign-ups, visit irwd.com/events.

While pondering what holiday gifts to give, how about those that keep on giving, save money and put cash back in your pocket?

Irvine Ranch Water District can help you fill those holiday wishes with rebates on high efficiency clothes washers, which save about 14 gallons of water a day. Or how about a new high efficiency toilet? Rebates are also available on those.

In the yard, where approximately 60 percent of a home’s water consumption goes, check out rebates for weather-based irrigation controllers, rotating spray nozzles, moisture sensors and rain barrels. Make the gardener in your family happy, and help with your New Year’s resolution to save water!

Check out our website at irwd.com/save water and money for more information.

During the month of November, IRWD customers used 18.3 percent less water compared to November 2013. The District's six-month running water conservation total stands at 18 percent, which is above the 16 percent total that was mandated for the District earlier this year by the California State Water Resources Control Board. 

IRWD customers have saved over 2 billion gallons of water since June 1st, putting IRWD 82 percent of the way toward reaching its water reduction goal, which must be met by February 29, 2016. Three months remain until the deadline for the District and its customers to achieve total water savings of nearly 2.5 billion gallons. 

IRWD continues to encourage its customers to find ways to save water during the winter by doing the following things:

• Give your sprinklers a winter break - Turn off your sprinklers and let Mother Nature take over during the cooler, wetter months. At a minimum, sprinklers should be left off ahead of, during and for two days after any rainstorm.

• Purchase one or more rain barrels - Put the rain falling on your property to good use, even days after any storms have passed. Rebates of $75 per barrel are available (Maximum of 4 rebates).

• Color Your World with Drought Friendly Landscaping - Winter is a great time to install a drought friendly landscape. IRWD pays customers $2 per square foot for customers to replace their grass lawns with drought friendly gardens.

• Purchase a Weather-Based Irrigation Controller - These smart controllers automatically adjust your sprinkler run times to match changing climate conditions and turn off your sprinklers ahead of and during any rain events. Rebates of up to $80 per controller are available for residents with less than one-acre of landscape.

For more information, please visit the IRWD Drought page. To find out which rebates IRWD offers to its customers, go to rightscapenow.com/rebates.