Splash of genius Huntington Beach site finds ‘cool’ use for treated groundwater By Patrick Summers and photos by Paul Pinner A Huntington Beach, Calif., site is - ment,” Netherwood said. - with state officials to design a remediationBoeing environmental experts workedplan. Wiley said the site uses severalThe cooling tower uses 90,000 gallonsthe facility is a double win for the environn innovative use of treated groundwater to cool buildings at Boeing’s helping the environment, saving the com- (340,700 liters) of water a day in warmer remediation methods, depending on the pany money and earning praise from state weather. chemicals being treated. State permits officials for Boeing’s remediation program. “That’s a lot of water we no longer have allow the treated groundwater to be “Water is a very valuable resource, to buy from the local utility,” said Dean Hill, discharged into storm drains or the especially in an arid, drought-prone region mechanical engineering project manager municipal sanitary sewer. like ours,” said Jennifer Wiley, geologist in Shared Services Group’s Site Services Extraction wells along the property’s and remediation project manager in Envi- organization. The water savings is equiva- southern boundary capture contaminated ronment, Health and Safety in Huntington lent to the average daily amount of water groundwater and pull it back on-site for Beach. “Being proactive and finding new used by 225 families, he said. treatment. Other extraction wells prevent ways to reuse water and conserve resources Hill estimates the reused treated water further chemical migration and will shrink makes sense for the environment and could cut the site’s use of municipal water the contamination’s footprint over time. our business.” by up to half. “This project is a unique solution to a Wiley and a team of engineers and “We’re not just helping the company; complex problem,” Shestag said. “It’s an remediation experts saw an opportunity we’re also helping the local water district excellent demonstration of Boeing’s com- to use treated groundwater from a site meet its conservation goals,” said Steve mitment to environmental stewardship.” remediation project that otherwise would Shestag, Boeing’s remediation leader. “State Teresa Howe, director of Environment, have been discharged into a storm drain. officials are sharing our ideas on remedia- Health and Safety, noted that close collabo- The plan to use the treated groundwater tion and water use with other industries in ration among remediation, environmental on-site started taking shape as project the area as an example of how they can and engineering teams was the key to the engineers were installing the remediation reduce their environmental footprint.” project’s success. project infrastructure, which included Groundwater contamination was “We had all of our knowledge and exper- digging trenches and installing pipe. discovered at the Huntington Beach site tise working together on a common purpose,” “Since a half-mile of trenches already after the removal of an underground tank she said. “And wow, look at the result.” n was excavated and open,” explained used in the past for storing industrial patrick.a.summers@boeing.com environmental engineer John Netherwood, cleaning solvents and other chemicals. “I thought for the cost of some extra pipe Test wells revealed that volatile organic PHOTOS: (Clockwise from top left) we could divert the treated water up to compounds had seeped into groundwater Laboratory tests determine the presence the cooling tower and the system that in a limited section of the property and and type of possible groundwater cools the buildings.” migrated a short distance beyond the contamination; an on-site cooling tower uses treated groundwater to help cool the Site leadership approved the plan site’s southern boundary. site’s buildings; Jennifer Wiley, geologist and the facility began using the treated As part of its commitment to clean and remediation project manager, leads water this fall. “Using the water here at up property affected by past operations, the groundwater cleanup effort. 16 BOEING FRONTIERS / DECEMBER 2012–JANUARY 2013
Frontiers December 2012/January 2013 Issue
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