The Shadetree Partnership and UC Irvine have jointly received the 2014 Award for Excellence in Volunteer Management from the Arbor Day Foundation.

The award is presented to a community, group or organization for their outstanding efforts to mobilize and engage volunteers in tree planting and care within a community.

Irvine Ranch Water District Board Member Mary Aileen Matheis, also Shadetree’s president, commended all of the volunteers for their hard work.

“Everyone involved with Shadetree do it for the love of the organization,” she said. “I take great pride in being involved with the people associated with this organization.”

Shadetree Partnership is a volunteer non-profit organization that promotes more livable communities through the planting and stewardship of shade trees and other nursery stock. Since its formation in 1990, Shadetree has planted more than 26,500 trees and groundcover at various sites within the community. Many Orange County schools, colleges, community groups, non-profits and businesses have participated in Shadetree planting events.

Shadetree’s nursery is located at UCI and hosts monthly nursery events, which includes planting, pruning, weeding nursery stock and other needed maintenance.

More information about Shadetree and future events is available on its website.

The Irvine Ranch Water District’s Michelson Water Recycling Plant Phase 2 Expansion project has received honors from the American Society of Civil Engineers Orange County Chapter and the Orange County Engineering Council. ASCE named MWRP as Water Treatment Project of the Year for 2013 and OCEC selected the plant to receive an Engineering Project Achievement Award.

The awards were presented at both organizations’ annual awards dinners in February.

Expansion of MWRP began in the fall of 2009. When completed in May, the facility will be expanded to treat up to 28 million gallons of wastewater per day.

The expansion includes approximately 1,900 feet of new influent sewers, a new headworks facility with screening, grit removal, and solids handling equipment, four new rectangular primary sedimentation tanks and associated sludge and scum pumping, expanded flow equalization and primary effluent distribution facilities, upgrades to the existing activated sludge process, a new high-rate clarifier to polish secondary effluent and treat backwash return flows from the dual media filters, upgrades to the chlorine contact basins, a new membrane bioreactor, and a new ultraviolet disinfection facility for wastewater treated by the membrane bioreactor.

The expansion also includes new support facilities, including a new odor control facility, chemical feed systems, storm water pump stations, and electrical buildings.

While this project has been underway, the plant has maintained operations without interruption.

IRWD owns and operates two water recycling plants that treat wastewater to tertiary or advanced levels of treatment. IRWD maintains a completely separate recycled water pipeline system of more than 300 miles serving more than 3,500 customers. MWRP is the larger of the two plants.

Recycled water is also used for toilet flushing in commercial buildings, for air conditioning cooling towers, and for industrial uses such as carpet dyeing.

More information about the Michelson Water Recycling Plant expansion project may be found on our website.

While weather-watchers awaited the arrival of last week’s storms, crews at the IRWD Michelson Water Recycling Plant installed flood gate panels in one of seven openings placed around the plant.

“We were not at a stage where the gates were required, but thought it would be a good opportunity for training,” said Operations Supervisor Dave Hayden. “The gate was set up in 17 minutes, a new all time record.”

Expansion of the water recycling plant began in the fall of 2009 and construction of the flood wall was included in the project because of possible flooding from adjacent San Diego Creek during storms. It was necessary to drive 3,000 reinforced 50-foot long concrete piles around the perimeter of the plant and the San Joaquin Marsh to stabilize the wall.

The wall includes seven gateways into which gate panels can be installed in the event of the San Diego Creek overflowing its banks. This could put the wastewater treatment plant and the marsh campus in jeopardy of flooding. In addition, raw sewage could dump into the creek during flooding if the treatment plant became inoperable.

Two gates remain in place at the rear of the plant at the boundary of the San Joaquin Marsh.

More information on IRWD construction projects is available on our website.