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STATE OF COLORADO <br />Bill Ritter. Jr., Governor <br />James B. Martin, Executive Director <br />WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION <br />http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/op/wqcc/index.htmt <br />4300 Cherry Creek Dr. South <br />Denver, Colorado 80246-1530 <br />Phone(303)692-3469 <br />Fax(303)691-7702 <br />To: Parties Interested in Membrane Treatment <br />From: Jeff Bedingfield, Chair <br />Water Quality Control Commission <br />Date: May 6, 2008 <br />Re: Request for Support for Zero Liquid Discharge Pilot Project <br />pf COlO <br />_90 <br />* 1876 ? <br />Colorado <br />Department <br />of Public Health <br />and Environment <br />The Water Quality Control Commission strongly supports the development and implementation <br />of a project to pilot zero liquid discharge (ZLD) of membrane treatment concentrate. The <br />Commission encourages others to support the efforts of the Water Quality Control Division and <br />the Membrane Treatment Work Group to move such a project forward. <br />Membrane Treatment is an advanced treatment technology used by water suppliers to provide <br />high quality water to their customers even where the quality of the raw water supply may be <br />relatively poor. <br />In 2005 the Commission charged the Division and the Membrane Treatment Work Group to <br />develop options for environmentally acceptable disposal of the concentrate from membrane <br />treatment systems to ensure that membrane treatment remains a viable technology for water <br />treatment in Colorado. As stated in the Work Group's October 2007 report to the Commission: <br />• The Statewide Water Supply Initiative identified a statewide need for an additional 600,000 <br />acre-ft. by the year 2030 to meet expected municipal and industrial water demand; <br />• Public drinking water utilities have become progressively more reliant on lower quality <br />source waters to meet their increasing demand; <br />• As municipal drinking water providers turn to source water supplies with higher <br />concentrations of contaminants such as salinity and nitrate, the need for membrane treatment <br />technologies will increase in order to remove these inorganic chemicals; <br />• Membrane treatment technology is also capable of removing many organic contaminants of <br />emerging concern, including many of the endocrine disrupting chemicals, pharmaceuticals <br />and toxic household products that are being detected in municipal sources waters with <br />increasing frequency; <br />• Membrane treatment may be the best alternative to meet recently adopted federal drinking <br />water rules (e.g. the Surface Water Treatment Rule); <br />• Disposal of membrane treatment concentrate residuals is significantly more difficult than <br />disposing of residuals from conventional public water treatment systems due to the volume <br />of water and contaminant concentrations being much higher as compared to conventional <br />water treatment processes;