The 144-acre Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant is the largest treatment facility in California handling most of the wastewater treatment and discharges of treated effluent for the City of Los Angeles. Hyperion 2035 is critical to meeting the Mayor of Los Angeles’ goal of recycling 100% of the City’s wastewater by 2035 for beneficial reuse. The proposed Program would require the construction of new treatment, conveyance, storage, and distribution infrastructure to augment local water supplies by up to approximately 217 million gallons per day (equivalent to a third of the City’s water supply). Catalyst is leading the CEQA review for all aspects of the Hyperion 2035 project related to the proposed conversion of the plant to an advanced water treatment facility, including potential effects related to discharge of reverse osmosis reject brine to Santa Monica Bay and the related water quality and biological resources impacts. A key element of the analysis is modeling of the change in water quality of the effluent discharged from Hyperion into the nearshore environment of the Santa Monica Bay. LWA is conducting water quality and hydrologic modeling to evaluate the changes to the discharge plume. The results of this modeling will be used to evaluate potential effects to the nearshore marine biological resources and habitat. Catalyst is also assisting the City of Los Angeles in conducting enhanced public outreach for the project, consisting of stakeholder meetings in addition to scoping and public review meeting during the CEQA review process.
