12b Attachment

• Board Meeting Date: 7/20/2010
• Description: Water Supply Planning Section - Water Supply Reserve Account Project Change - Fraer River Settling Pond
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

Colorado Water Conservation Board
Comments on Agenda Item 12b, July 20 -21 Board Meeting
July 16, 2010 — Page 2
While I have worked with WERF for many years and been involved in several research teams, I
realize that many of you are not familiar with the organization. I'd like to - briefly describe who
WERF is and the kind of research WERF supports:
• WERF employs a program- directed, focused approach to research where teams of
subscribers, researchers, volunteer experts, and WERF staff work together to identify and
solve issues of critical importance to the water quality community by building on what we
have already learned. WERF's communication efforts engage its subscribers, the broad
water quality community, funding agencies, advocacy groups & concerned citizens, and
others by effectively sharing research findings and collaborating on agenda development.
WERF and its subscribers are working toward broad-based water quality improvements by
conducting unbiased, scientifically sound research.
• Conservative fiscal policies have also placed WERF among the pre- eminent non- profit
organizations in the U.S., with some 87.5 percent of expenses vested in research program
expenses. WERF maintains stringent quality assurance /quality control measures, a
nationally recognized peer review process, and has gained a reputation as one of
America's most trusted research organizations.
• WERF's constituents include local wastewater utilities throughout the country that
represent some 75% of the sewered U.S. population. WERF also partners with other
research organizations, associations, federal, state and local agencies and is a founding
member of an international organization (the Global Water Research Coalition) to make
sure resources are allocated collaboratively and in such a way to maximize results and
outcomes.
• WERF's contribution to water quality, efficient wastewater treatment operations, and
science for sound decision - making takes the form of many outputs and outcomes.
WERF's ongoing portfolio of some 100 research projects results in at least 35 reports
annually, addressing important topics including nutrient removal, endocrine disrupting
compounds, asset management, biosolids, water reuse, stormwater, TMDLs, security, and
many others.
• Finally, WERF was a research partner, along with WateReuse Foundation, Water
Research Foundation (formerly known as AwwaRF), and a number of other organizations,
on a series of brine concentrate management projects including a project that specifically
focused on zero liquid discharge technologies. The reports from these projects were
published in 2007 and 2008. See project report descriptions below.
• Title: 03- CTS- 17aCO, Survey of High - Recovery and Zero Liquid Discharge
Technologies for Water Utilities
Description
This is an essential reference for utilities considering high recovery processing for
desalination projects. Consideration of high recovery and zero liquid discharge
processing of municipal concentrate has been limited to site- specific paper studies
as there are no high recovery municipal desalination plants due to high costs. The
research conducted provides a systematic characterization of high recovery
performance and costs over a range of size, salinity, and composition.
• Title: 03- CTS- 17bCO, Beneficial and Nontraditional Uses of Concentrate
Description
Production of low - salinity water from desalination of brackish and seawater results in
a byproduct known as "concentrate," which has significantly increased total dissolved