Major improvements underway at heart of our system

Major improvements underway at heart of our system

Built in 1935, the Orinda Water Treatment Plant—the heart of the EBMUD water distribution system—is undergoing bypass surgery. Every day, this plant delivers more than 120 million gallons of great water to 800,000 customers. It keeps our Mokelumne supply filtered, treated and flowing to your taps.

This critical $22 million project will upgrade treatment, flow and power systems. To do this, the plant must be shut down from November 2016 through April 2017. This is no small feat.

To keep you in water during this shutdown, EBMUD is running all water treatment plants in our system. Some customers now are receiving water from a different source (like our local San Pablo or Upper San Leandro reservoirs). The work to get them running in sync has been considerable.

Although you’ll never see it, these crucial improvements will provide flexibility to better operate the plant. Power, treatment and chemical systems, as well as process monitoring equipment will all be upgraded. This will allow us to split the plant in two to perform regular maintenance on half of the plant while the other half is still operating.

We have planned these upgrades for many years and are proud to kickoff the hard work to build these improvements.

If you experience a change in your tap water, please practice patience with us while we extend the life of our largest, most 
vital water treatment plant. Remember that a little sacrifice today will pay off in spades. This brief period of change assures your water and your great grandchildren’s water will taste like pure mountain melt. If you have concerns regarding your water quality, call 1-866-403-2683 or visit ebmud.com/water-quality.