Adsorption of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds through Soil Aquifer Treatment (Local Strand) Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management, College of Engineering, California State University, Long Beach Faculty Project Manage: Dr. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul Student Project Manager: Nhut Minh Pham

World Water Forum Metropolitan Water District of Southern California 2015-2017 College Grant Program

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2. PROJECT SUMMARY

The proposed project is “Adsorption of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) in Soil Aquifer

Treatment.” This is a local strand project at Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD). Dr. Pitiporn

Asvapathanagul and Nhut M. Pham from College of Engineering, California State University, Long Beach

(CSULB), are the faculty and student project managers, respectively. The goal of the study is to

investigate the removal of EDCs during the adsorption process occurring in soil aquifers when tertiary

reclaimed water is spread into layers of soils for EDC treatment. The scopes are (i) to identify the types

and concentrations of EDCs in raw sewage, primary effluent, secondary effluent, tertiary effluent and

groundwater, and (ii) to determine the adsorption of EDCs in soils at different depths using soil column

testing for evaluating the potential of the EDC removal. All samples will be provided by SMWD. The EDCs

analysis will be taken place at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments & Society

(IIrmes), CSULB. The soil column reactors will be set up in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory,

CSULB. The anticipated outcomes will assist the SMWD on a feasible EDC treatment to utilize recycled

water to recharge the San Juan Basin.

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3. CONTACT INFORMATION

College College of Engineering, California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)

Department Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management

Make Check Payable To: CSULB Foundation

3.A.

Application Strand Select One

LOCAL Project Name Adsorption of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) in Soil

Aquifer Treatment.

GLOBAL Project Name

3.B.

Faculty Project Manager Dr. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul

Title Assistant Professor

Department Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management

Campus Address 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach CA 90840

Telephone / Email Address 562-985-5147 Pitiporn.Asvapathanagul@csulb.edu

3.C.

Student Project Manager Nhut Minh Pham

Undergraduate or Graduate Undergraduate

Department Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management

Cell Phone / Email Address 714-723-2980 Nhut.Pham@student.csulb.edu

3.D.

Contracts Manager / Officer Sandra Shereman

Title Senior Director, Sponsored Programs

Department Office of Research and Sponsored Program

Campus Address 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840

Telephone / Email Address 562-985-7619 Sandra.Shereman@csulb.edu

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3.E. PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM

NAME TITLE /

ORGANIZATION

ADDRESS PHONE & EMAIL

1 Dr. Pitiporn

Asvapathanagul

(budget, research,

technology)

Assistant

Professor/CSULB

1250 Bellflower

Blvd. Long

Beach, CA

90840

562-985-5147

Pitiporn.Asvapathanagul@csulb.edu

2 Nhut M. Pham

(research,

technology)

Undergraduate

student/CSULB

3929 W. 5th St.

#126, Santa

Ana, CA 92703

714-723-2980

Nhut.Pham@student.csulb.edu

3 Jim Nguyen

(research,

technology)

Undergraduate

student/CSULB

14791 Alcester

St.

Westminster,

CA 92683

714-727-5009

Jimnguyen701@gmail.com

3.E. MEMBER AGENCY(IES) / LOCAL WATER AGENCY(IES)

NAME TITLE / ORGANIZATION ADDRESS PHONE & EMAIL

1 Daniel R. Ferons General Manager/Santa

Margarita Water District

26111 Antonio

Parkway

Rancho Santa

Margarita, CA 92688

949-459-6590 (office)

949-279-4864 (cell)

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4. ORGANIZATIONAL BACKGROUND California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is “a diverse, student-centered, globally-engaged public university committed to provide highly valued undergraduate and graduate educational opportunities through superior teaching, research, creative activity and service for the people of California and the world.” With greater than 83,000 undergraduate applicants received in fall 2014 (CSULB, 2014), the University is one of the most popular Universities in the United States. The following campus facts (CSULB, 2014), explain the environment that defines CSULB: ■ CSULB was 10

th in the nation for “Best

Value” based upon Obama Administration Criteria (Time Magazine, 2014). ■ CSULB is one of 264 Hispanic-Serving institutions in the United States (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, 2011). ■ CSULB ranked 9

th nationally in awarding bachelor’s degrees to Hispanics, 13

th to Asian

Americans and 16th to Native Americans (CSULB, 2014). ■ CSULB was 12

th in the nation in conferring

bachelor’s degrees to minority students (Diversity in Higher Education, 2014), and ■ CSULB was also recognized as “Excellence and Innovation Award for Student Success and College Completion” (American Association of state Colleges and Universities, 2014). CSULB is well known in the efficient and intensive classroom interaction with students. The faculty has a lot of experience working with a diverse students’ background. Informal routine interaction combined with formalized mentoring strategies, the faculty mentors will definitely bring students success from varied settings. College of Engineering (COE) at CSULB’s mission is “to develop innovators who design and implement practical solutions to meet the ever-changing societal challenges of today and tomorrow.” Insure the success of each and every student is one of the COE’s priorities. Additionally, COE’s global Vision is contribute to solving the world’s most challenging problems such as the environment, human health, energy, water, poverty. Moreover, COE provides a friendly and hospitable school to underrepresented groups, including women, persons with disabilities, and veterans. Currently, number funds are located to offer excellent laboratories to enhance the engineering learning experience. All will contribute to achieve recognition for our community engagement – regionally, nationally and globally. There are several active programs within the university and COE that support undergraduate research. Below is a list and short descriptions of some of these programs:

a) BUILD-Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity: CSULB’s BUILD Program offers intensive training opportunities for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a research career in the biomedical field. Biomedical research aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the public through the use of innovative methods that examine the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. The research is conducted across a number of different disciplines including engineering, behavioral, biological, clinical, physical, public health, and social sciences. Students learn to use basic, applied, and translational approaches to study health issues facing communities across the nation.

b) PSMS – Physical Science & Math Scholarship: The PSMS Program focuses on improving student retention and graduation rates as well as preparing them to enter the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) workforce and/or graduate study. The goal is to help students become leaders and valuable members of our college-wide learning community.

c) MARC -Maximizing Access to Research Careers: The MARC training program offers students a great opportunity to start building the foundation for a career in biomedical research. The program aims to increase the number of disadvantaged students being admitted into graduate programs which can then lead to Ph.D. degrees in the fields of biology, chemistry, psychology, epidemiology and other social and behavioral sciences. This includes students from low-income families, ethnic minorities, and students with disabilities.

d) EHP - Engineering Honors Program: This program provides opportunities for high performing students who wish to complete their degrees in four years. They are offered honors courses as well as a year-long research project that will give them experience in the application of engineering principles. They are also expected to write a thesis paper on their project. The purpose of this program is to prime students for success as practicing professionals in the engineering industry and to strengthen their chances of succeeding as graduate students.

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e) HOGAR - Hispanic Opportunities for Graduate Access and Retention: The HOGAR program aims to increase the number of Hispanic and other underserved student groups that are admitted into graduate degree programs.

As indicated earlier, CSULB is a Hispanic Serving Institution (Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, 2011) and is one of predominantly undergraduate institutions (NSF: RUI, 2014). Accordingly, undergraduate research activities have been extensively promoted on the campus. Especially, the Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management (CECEM) department has consistently established firmed dedication to enhance undergraduate research participation. All CECEM faculty members all have experience, in most cases extensive with undergraduate and graduate researchers in their laboratories. This is in part due to strong CSU, University, College and Departmental support of undergraduates in research through: ■ NSF: Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program; ■ Watershed Management Internship Program-Experiential Learning for USDA Careers (United States Department of Agriculture: HSI Education Grant Project); ■ CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology: Presidents’ Commission Scholars Program (CSUPERB); ■ Research Initiation and Seed Grant (RISG), COE; ■ Hispanic Serving Institution STEM (HIS-STEM) Winter Research Experience; ■ Summer Bridge to the Beach Program; ■ Faculty Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities (RSCA) Program; ■ METRANS research funds (Transportation Center: USC and CSULB) etc.

There are a total of 6 study areas in our CECEM department. In summer 2015, the Environmental Engineering Laboratory was renovated for enhancing safety in the laboratory. Moreover, during 2015, $100K+ grant was funded to purchase a large amount of new teaching and research equipment in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory. The Environmental Engineering area consists of two research laboratories, Urban Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory and Energy and Member Technology Laboratory. Briefly, the instruments in the Urban Environmental Biotechnology Laboratory fully utilize for environmental molecular technique, such as qPCR and PCR assays, and culture based technique. Additionally, spectrophotometry equipment is employed to measure physicochemical characteristics of water and wastewater samples. In the Energy and Member Technology Laboratory, the instruments are utilized for development of ion exchange membrane and its characterization. The membrane characterization techniques include ion exchange capacity (IEC) and swelling degree as well as chronopotentiometry for the potential measurement. The examples of Environmental Engineering undergraduate and graduate research that has been supervised by Dr. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul since 2012 are displayed below.

a) Computer Software Design Services for Pipeline Inspection Pilot Study (MS-0032)-Long Beach Water District.

b) Biocementation of Long Beach Sands for Soil Strength Improvement

c) Understanding the Effect of Climate Change on the Surface Water in Santa Ana Watershed Stream-Water quality during low and high-flows in the Santa Ana River (SARW) watershed

d) Investigating Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Pathogenic Bacteria in Runoff Water

e) Factor Influencing Gordonia amarae Switching their Growth Strategies in a Beach Scale Activated Sludge

f) Influences of Nutrient Levels on Enterococcus spp.’s Growth at the inner Cabrillo Beach, the Port of Los Angeles

g) Investigation of Indicator Bacteria’s growths at the Inner Cabrillo Beach using Spatial and Temporal Analysis

h) Integrating Sustainability into Undergraduate Curricula: Development of a Hybrid Module-Based Introductory Course in Environmental Engineering with Focus on Water Resources, Sustainability, and Renewable Energy

i) Preparing the Future Engineering Workforce through Development of a State-of-the-Art Curriculum and Innovative Recruitment and Retention Strategies

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5. CERTIFICATE OF ATTENDANCE Note: Dr. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul, a faculty manager, attended the October 16

th Outreach event.

However, Dr. Asvapathanagul did not register in advance. The blank certificate of participation on the

October 16th Outreach event was provided. Her name is manually added during the grant proposal

preparation prior to grant submission.

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6. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

6A. Project Narrative Outlining the Work Plan and Project Activities.

6A.1 Introduction and Significance The lack of sufficient water resources in California becomes a significant challenge for people residing in the state. Global climate change has the potential to lower the amount of runoff within and other regions such as Northern California to their lowest values since 2010 (except 2011 was El Nino year)

(Mean E,

2014). Additionally, energy deficiencies and population growth in California are quickly escalating the severity of the problem (Mean E, 2014).The fundamental cause of the water shortage problem in California is the extremely low amounts of precipitation it receives. This has forced California to look elsewhere for reliable water sources such as the Colorado River, Northern California (State Water Project) and Central Valley (Central Valley Project) (The Water Education Foundation, 2014). Being this dependent on other regions for water is not a sustainable solution.

The clear solution to this problem is for California to develop new strategies and improve its current technologies in order to become more self-reliant when it comes to its water supply. Examples of the most feasible approaches are (i) the improvement and advancement the existing biological water reclamation processes and tertiary treatment technology. These will increase the quality of reclaimed water that can be reused for potable water, (ii) the development of on-site recycling/reclamation technologies, which will increase water reuse domestically, and (iii) treatment, storage and reclaim stormwater after rain prior to use for landscaping (Mean E, 2014; Tchobanoglous, G, 2014).

One concern of utilizing reclaimed water is the presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). EDCs are a variety of organic contaminants that have been observed world-wide in surface water and wastewater (Boyd et al, 2003; Glassmeyer et al, 2005; Kolpin et al, 2002; Terner et al, 1999). Most EDCs have been introduced to the environment as a result of water reclamation discharge because EDCs are not easily biodegradable in biological treatment processes (Terner et al, 1999). Accordingly, numerous EDCs are remained in the tertiary reclaimed water, which restricts the further water reuse purposes. Agricultural/animal farming runoff, landfill leachates and urban runoff are also reported as sources of EDCs (Barnes et al, 2004; Pedersen et al, 2003; Yang et al, 2003).

Examples of EDCs are drugs, pesticides, compounds used in the plastics industry and in consumer products, industrial by-products and pollutants. Most EDCs are pervasive and widely dispersed in the environment and can bio-accumulate. EDCs at certain doses can interrupt with hormone systems in human and animals. Examples of the EDCs’ consequences are causing tumors, birth defects and other developmental. Specifically, endocrine disruptors may be associated with the development of cognitive and brain development as well as learning disabilities and other cancers such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Currently, scientists and legislators are anxious about the amount of EDCs in drinking water, which is a consequence of fresh water sources impacted by treated wastewater.

The proposed project is “Adsorption of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) in Soil Aquifer Treatment.” This is a local strand project at Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD). The goal of the study is to investigate the removal of EDCs in the adsorption process occurring in soil aquifer when tertiary reclaimed water is spread into layers of soils for further EDC treatment. The scopes are

a) to identify the types and concentrations of EDCs in raw sewage, primary effluent, secondary effluent, tertiary effluent and groundwater

b) to determine the adsorption of EDCs in soils at different depths using soil column testing prior to evaluating the potential of EDC removal.

Both groundwater and samples from water reclamation plants will be provided by SMWD. The EDCs analysis will be taken place at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments & Society (IIrmes) at CSULB. The soil column reactors tested for adsorption will be set up and tested in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, CSULB. All data analysis and report dissimilation will be taken place in the CECEM department, CSULB. The anticipated outcomes of this project will demonstrate the EDC removal process occurring in soils to develop background information for a local project to utilize recycled water to recharge the San Juan Basin (SMWD). The adsorption of EDCs will be evaluated prior to understanding of its adsorption process

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and determining the EDC removal efficiency. The conclusions will assist SMWD on a feasible EDC treatment process of the tertiary reclaimed water prior to groundwater recharge. The content strand delivered in this project is knowledge/technology of the background EDCs and the adsorption of EDCs on soil’s surfaces.

The proposed study is related to a Local water-related issues or challenges in SMWD, which are “Makes more water available” at 5,600 acre-feet/year. Although the total average tertiary reclaimed water produced from Chiquita (activated sludge process only), OSO Creek and 3A Water Reclamation Plants in SMWD is 8.6 MGD (approximately 9,632 acre-feet per year), a certain amount of reclaimed water will be used for landscaping and fill up existing reservoirs. There is not any current use of recycled water for recharge in the San Juan Basin, planning studies are underway (This proposed study is a part of the studies). Since extracted groundwater in the San Juan Basin is required to be treated at a 5 MGD (5,600 acre-feet/year) reverse osmosis plant downstream, the maximum portable available water increase calculated in this proposal will be at 5,600 acre-feet/year, which is the same as the capacity of the RO plant (See section 6B for more details).

6A.2 Project Approach

Task 1. Determine types and concentrations of EDCs. Samples from raw sewage, primary effluent, secondary effluent, tertiary effluent and groundwater will be collected prior to EDC type and concentration analysis. The samples will be provided by SMWD. The sampling plan is displayed in section 6A.4-Timeline. The goal of this task is to obtain the potential EDCs at Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant and groundwater in SMWD. Consequently, the adsorption will target to removal the EDCs of interests. Task 2. Adsorption of EDCs:Lab Scale Experiment. A series of soil columns will be built in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, and employed to investigate the adsorption of EDCs. A layout of soil columns is showed in Figure 1. Soils contained in the columns will be based on a selected Standard Penetration Test (SPT) that will be obtained from SMWD. The tertiary reclaimed water will be used to feed the soil columns. The soil parameters such as Darcy’s velocity, porosity and grain size, will be documented. The flow rate per unit surface area will be based on the available pressure head observed in the field. The influent and effluent will be taken for EDC analysis. The goal of this test is to evaluate the EDC removal by the adsorption process in soils. The Adsorption of EDCs:Lab Scale Experiment plan is displayed in section 6A.4-Timeline.

Figure 1. Soil columns for Adsorption of EDCs

Soil column 6-10 ft

Effluent tank

Sampling tank Influent tank

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6A.3 Experimental Method

Groundwater and wastewater sampling One liter of groundwater, treated and untreated wastewater will be separately collected in a sterilized amber glass bottle. Ten grams of sediment will be taken in a sterilized container. Samples will taken from Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant (activated sludge process only), OSO Creek Water Reclamation Plant and 3A Water Reclamation Plant and groundwater in SMWD. All environmental samples will be provided from SMWD. The students will pick up all samples at Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant in SMWD. The samples from the adsorption of EDCs:Lab Scale Experiment will be collected by the students in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory, CSULB. All environmental samples will be kept at 4

oC and transported into the lab within 3 hr.

EDC analysis The EDC analysis will be analyzed at the Institute for Integrated Research in Materials, Environments & Society (IIrmes) in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics, CSULB. All samples will be analyzed by the students supported by this grant. The EDC analysis will be performed within 48 hour after the samples are obtained. A summary of EDC analysis is described as following.

All samples will be first extracted, purified and concentrated the organic compounds in 3:1 mixture of dichloromethane (DCM): acetone using separatory funnels. The remaining extract will be processed using Alumina-B/Silica Gel chromatography. Consequently, the samples will be concentrated and injected to Agilent gas chromatograph (GC; 6890N series) equipped with a mass selective detector (MSD; Agilent 5973 inert series). The temperature profile of the GC oven will be set from 45°C to 125°C at 20°C/min, then to 295°C at 2.5°C/min for 10 min. Injector and transfer line temperatures will be programmed at 285°C and 300°C, respectively. The source and quadrupole temperatures will be set at 230°C and 150°C, respectively. Helium is used as the carrier gas. The MSD will be used in the Electron Ionization (EI) mode and scanned from 45-500 amu at a rate of 1.66 scans/sec. Data are acquired by the software in the GC/MS system. Quantification of each target analyte is based on the largest single ion with confirmation from at least two additional ions (Cochran and Frame, 1999). Blanks are employed to demonstrate that cleaning protocols of lab equipment and glassware adequately remove residual contamination from previous use. Therefore, the sample-processing procedures do not introduce contamination. Preparation of method blanks for organic analysis involves processing a volume of solvent through all the method procedures. Precision will be determined by samples and matrix spikes (MS) being analyzed in replicates. The examples of EDCs invested in this project are displayed in Table 1, Table 2 and Table 3.

Table 1. List of pesticides investigated in this study

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Table 2. List of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) investigated in this study

Table 3. List of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) investigated in this study

6A.4 Timeline The project schedule with key milestone date and deliverables with measurable outcomes are

described below and displayed in Table 4.

a) Project preparation period is set up for the first two weeks (Aug 17-31, 2016). During this stage, there are 4 activities arranged. First, the meeting among SMWD, CSULB faculty and CSULB students will be held in order to discuss the scope of work, and collect information related to the project. The faculty manager will be in charge on this meeting and provide a presentation at SMWD. Second, the students will be trained on the topics of laboratory technique and safety by the faculty manager and the safety coordinator from College of Engineering (COE). Moreover, the students will learn how to analyze EDCs at IIrmes facility at the College of National Science and Mathematics, CSULB. Accordingly, the students will independently conduct the analysis with safety awareness. Lastly, all laboratory space, supplies and materials will be gathered and ordered for their use during the project period.

b) Groundwater and wastewater sampling and analyzing for EDCs. Wastewater will be sampled at Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant (activated sludge process only), OSO Creek Water Reclamation Plant and 3A Water Reclamation Plant with addition of groundwater in SMWD. All samples will be provided by SMWD. The students will pick up the samples at Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant in SMWD. There is no analysis performed at SMWD. The samples will be stored on ice, transported to CSULB and analyzed for EDCs within 48 hours. There are a total of three sampling events, which are in September 16-30, 2016; November 1-15, 2016 and January 1-15, 2017. The EDC analysis will be taken place at IIrmes facility, CSULB. For each sampling the students will spend one week to perform EDC analysis in the laboratory combined with one following week to analyze data and write up a summary report of this sampling event.

c) Lab scale soil columns build up. The students will build soil column reactors containing with different soil types that are found at the basin site. A series of pumps will be installed and tested in order to achieve the desired flow rate. Several columns will be used in order to reach the actual depth in the field. The materials used will be clear cylinders, which are easy to visualize while the system is running.

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Additionally, soil particles and water samples are simply taken. The students will record all details of the column design and test run. This stage will be occurred in September 16-30, 2016.

d) The adsorption of EDCs within the lab scale column reactor will be performed twice. The first run will be in October 2016, and the second run will be in late November to December 2016 in order to compare the results for both run. The EDC concentrations in the effluent will be monitored. The water at certain depths will be collected and analyzed for EDC concentrations. The students will provide a summary reports for each run.

e) Data analysis, report and presentation preparation. Faculty and students will perform final data analysis, prepare final report and presentation (February-March 2017).

Table 4. Timeline of the proposed study

6A.5 Project Team. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul (Faculty Manager): Prof. Asvapathanagul is a female CSULB faculty member who brings energy and enthusiasm to undergraduate and graduate research programs. Her area of expertise is Environmental Engineering. Her research interest is molecular biology in water and wastewater as well as water reclamation processes. She currently teaches a number of classes such as Environmental Engineering I: Fundamental, Environmental Systems Design (Introduction to Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes), Advanced Water Treatment System Design, and Advanced Wastewater Treatment System Design. During the last three and half years of her teaching career, Prof. Asvapathanagul has applied for and obtained considerable amounts of funds to support undergraduate research. Since Fall 2012, a total of eight CECEM undergraduate students and three Brazilian undergraduate students have conducted research under her supervision. All CECEM students received stipends and additional funds for research supplies. Three of those students were even awarded travel grants to present their research findings at professional/student conferences. She also encourages all students to do research and has had a very diverse group of undergraduate participants including one African American student, two Hispanic/Latino students, two Caucasian students, two East and South Eastern Asian students, and one Southern Asian student. Half of these undergraduate students are female.

Dr. Asvapathanagul volunteers to work during the project period (August 17, 2016 to March 20, 2017) for conducting and supervising a proposed project titled, “Adsorption of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs) in Soil Aquifer Treatment.”. Dr. Asvapathanagul is in charge of

a) Leading and researching the proposed study b) Supervising two undergraduate students, Training students on safety and laboratory practice. Also, she will guide the students how to write up the report and prepare presentation. c) Working with the students to design and build the soil column testers (reactors) in the Environmental Engineering Laboratory. d) Finalizing the report and assisting the students during presentation preparation. e) Disseminating the research findings.

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Nhut M. Pham (Student Manager): During the project period, Nhut will be junior in Civil Engineering Program at CSULB. Nhut is interested in Environmental Engineering, so he switched from Chemical Engineering to Civil Engineering in order to fulfill his knowledge in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Engineering. He has research experience with Dr. Asvapathanagul. In 2015, Nhut was awarded by Presidents’ Commission Scholars Grant Program, California State University Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB) to conduct a research study titled, ““Biocementation of Long Beach Sands for Soil Strength Improvement.” Also, he worked as a volunteer laboratory technician when he was in high school. Accordingly, he is well familiar with research in Chemistry and Environmental Engineering Laboratory. Since Nhut has experience in research before, Nhut will serve as the Student Project Manager. Nhut will lead all student activities in this project.

Jim Nguyen: During the project period, Jim will be junior in Chemical Engineering Program at CSULB. Jim is interested in this study because he can employ his Chemical Engineering knowledge on this project, and he will gain the laboratory skills while he participates in this study. Jim’s specialty in Chemical Engineering that highly relates to EDCs will enhance the success of this proposed project.

Dr. Asvapathanagul will require both undergraduate research assistants (Nhut and Jim) to work closely together as lab partners. The majority of the work in this project list in Section 6A.4- Timeline, will be completed by Nhut and Jim. The students will participate in all tasks lists. Both students will collaborate in order to complete these following tasks.

a) Attending a start-up meeting with Santa Margarita Water District.

b) Preparing and ordering laboratory chemicals, supplies and materials required in this projects.

c) Getting safety training and laboratory training sessions by the faculty manager, COE safety coordinator combined with EDC analysis from IIrmes, CSULB.

d) Picking up samples at Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant in SMWD. Both students will drive to the water reclamation plant, and carry the samples back to the laboratory.

e) EDC analyzing for all samples at IIrmes, CSULB, performing data analysis and preparing a summary report for each run.

f) Designing, building and testing the soil column reactors under supervising of the faculty manager.

g) Performing the Adsorption of EDCs:Lab Scale Experiment by running the soil column adsorption system, collecting samples , analyzing EDCs, performing data analysis and preparing a summary report. h) Completing and finalizing data analysis, writing a final report, preparing/giving a final presentation to the Metropolitan Water District and Santa Margarita Water District under supervising of the faculty manager.

6A.6 Anticipated Outcomes The results of this project will include (i) types and concentrations of existing EDCs in raw sewage, primary effluent, secondary effluent and tertiary effluent and groundwater in SMWD, (ii) EDC adsorption and its removal efficiency in soils at different depths

The short-term outcomes of this project are described as following. a) Providing information about potential EDCs in SMWD with their concentrations. Accordingly,

significant EDCs in wastewater and groundwater will be carefully monitored in the future. b) Preliminarily assessing the adsorption of EDCs in SMWD soil aquifer. The specific type and

concentration of EDC will be closely investigated before and after the soil adsorption. This tentatively assists SMWD on a feasible EDC treatment process of the tertiary reclaimed water for groundwater recharge in the future.

c) Offering an opportunity for undergraduate students to have hand-on research and field experiences combined with networking with many water and wastewater professional at SMWD. The students will apply the field and lab knowledge and experiences in their classrooms, which will enhance their learning in the topics of Chemical and Environmental Engineering as well as encourage them to pursue a career in water related fields.

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The long-term outcomes of this project are listed below. a) Increasing awareness of EDCs introduced to the Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant (CWRP) and

to groundwater in SMWD. Accordingly, restrict rules will be attentively established to regulate and minimize their discharges into the environment.

b) Offering another feasible full-scale tertiary treatment with cost-effective prior to the removal of EDCs in tertiary reclaimed water at SMWD for groundwater recharge at the San Juan Basin. Accordingly, the quality of tertiary treated wastewater will be improved, which will create more available high quality water for further water reuses in the southern part of Orange County.

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6A.7 Bibliography

American Association of State Colleges and Universities, “AASCU Honors Work of State Colleges and Universities with Inaugural Excellence and Innovation Awards.” News release from AASCU, 1 October , 2014. < http://www.aascu.org/MAP/PSSNRDetails.aspx?id=9006>

Barnes, K. K.; Christenson, S. C.; Kolpin, D. W.; Focazio, M.; Furlong, E. T.; Zaugg, S. D.; Meyer, M. T.; Barber, L. B. Pharmaceuticals and other organic waste water contaminants within a leachate plume downgradient of a municipal landfill. Ground Water Monit. Rem. 2004, 24 (2), 119–126

Boyd, G. R.; Reemtsma, H.; Grimm, D. A.; Mitra, S. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in surface and treated waters of Louisiana, USA and Ontario, Canada. Sci. Total Environ. 2003, 311 (1-3), 135–149.

Cochran, J.W. and Frame, G.M. (1999) Recent developments in the high-resolution gas chromatography of polychlorinated biphenyls. J. of Chromatography A 843: 1-2, 323-368

CSULB by Schroeder, Shayne. “University Again Nationally Recognized for Diversity.” News @ the Beach, 10 November 2014. <http://web.csulb.edu/sites/newsatthebeach/2014/11/university-again-nationally-recognized-for-diversity/Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. “HACU Member Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)”, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. 2011. <http://www.hacu.net/assnfe/CompanyDirectory.asp?STYLE=2&COMPANY_TYPE=1,5&SEARCH_TYPE=0 >

“Dams, Reservoirs and Water Projects,” The Water Education Foundation, 2014, http://www.watereducation.org/topic-list-dams-reservoirs-and-water-projects

Glassmeyer, S. T.; Furlong, E. T.; Kolpin, D. W.; Cahill, J. D.; Zaugg, S. D.; Werner, S. L.; Meyer, M. T.; Kryak, D. D. Transport of chemical and microbial compounds from known wastewater discharges: Potential for use as indicators of human fecal contamination. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39 (14), 5157–5169.

Kolpin, D. W.; Furlong, E. T.; Meyer, M. T.; Thurman, E. M.; Zaugg, S. D.; Barber, L. B.; Buxton, H. T. Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: A national reconnaissance. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36 (6), 1202–1211.

Mean, Ed. Delivering Water Supply in the 21st Century: Water Utility Trends and Challenges, 2014 Water

Resources and Policy Initiatives Conference, San Francisco, CA.

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Pedersen, J. A.; Yeager, M. A.; Suffet, I. H. Xenobiotic organic compounds in runoff from fields irrigated with treated wastewater. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2003, 51 (5), 1360–1372.

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6.B. IDENTIFYING QUANTITATIVE BENEFIT PROJECTIONS

The proposed study is related to a Local water-related issues or challenges in SMWD (Southern Orange County, CA), which are “Makes more water available” at 5,600 acre-feet/year (see details below). There is not any current use of recycled water for recharge in the San Juan Basin, planning studies are underway. This proposed project is one of the preliminary studies. If high EDCs removal is observed in this proposed study, the majority of the reclaimed water produced from three water reclamation plants in SMWD will be used for groundwater recharge at the San Juan Basin. The quantitative benefit is calculated as following.

Total average tertiary reclaimed water produced is assumed to be the same as the total incoming wastewater flow rate at the plants because SMWD intends to reclaim 100% of incoming wastewater. There are three existing water reclamation plants in SMWD, which are Chiquita (activated sludge process only), OSO Creek and 3A Water Reclamation Plants. The design and average operating wastewater flow rate for each plant are showed in Table 5.

Table 5. Design capacity and average operating flow rate/tertiary reclaimed water produce for each plant

in SMWD

Although the total average tertiary reclaimed water produced in SMWD is 8.6 MGD (approximately 9,632 acre-feet per year), a certain amount of reclaimed water will be used for landscaping and fill up existing reservoirs. There is not any current use of recycled water for recharge in the San Juan Basin, planning studies are underway (this proposed project is a part of the studies). Since extracted groundwater in the San Juan Basin is required to be treated at a 5 MGD (5,600 acre-feet/year) reverse osmosis plant downstream, the maximum portable available water increase evaluated as a quantitative benefit in this proposed study will be at 5,600 acre-feet/year, which is the same as the capacity of the RO plant (5,600 acre-feet per year RO plant capacity is less than 9,632 acre-feet per year of total reclaimed water produced in SMWD). This 5,600 acre-feet per year estimation is in the range provided by SMWD (see below).

Remark: It is important to note that the groundwater recharge is depended on several factors such as wet vs dry year and groundwater table. The faculty manager has worked closely with SMWD general manager in order to provide the most appropriate estimation of the quantitative benefit in this study. Below shows the personal communication between the faculty manager and SMWD

“There is not any current use of recycled water for recharge in the San Juan Basin, planning studies are underway. The current planning is for a recharge of approximately 2,700 AF during wet years to 6,321 AF during dry years in the lower San Juan Basin and approximately 2,500 AF in the upper San Juan Basin. The recharge is dependent on the construction of the Trampas Canyon Seasonal Recycled Water Storage Reservoir, expansion at the Chiquita Plant and the 3A Plant. The recharge is also calculated to balance the groundwater flow to avoid rising groundwater. In 2035 with the build-out of the region, approximately 7,500 AF of recycled water will be available for use in recharge.” (SMWD; Personal communication).

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7. FINANCIAL CRITERIA

BUDGET OVERVIEW

DESCRIPTION AMOUNT NOTES

GRANT FUNDS REQUESTED

$9,999.00 Metropolitan water District

Funds to perform the study at CSULB (student stipends and endocrine disrupting compounds analyzing cost)

ADDITIONAL SOURCE OF FUNDS

(List all, if applicable)-Cost Share

$3,000 Santa Margarita Water District

Funds to obtain materials and supplies in this project

PROJECT TOTAL $12,999.00

Note: - $3,000 cost share is kindly supported by Santa Margarita Water District.

- Dr. Pitiporn Asvapathanagul will volunteer her time to supervise the students to conduct the project and assist in report write up and presentation.

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BUDGET BREAKDOWN

$2,773.00

$2,726.00 $2,726.00

$2,726.00 $9,090.00 $11,816.00

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8. SIGNATURE BLOCK

NAME / TITLE SIGNATURE DATE

Faculty Project

Manager

Pitiporn

Asvapathanagul

12/16/15

College Contracts

Officer /

Administrator

Sandra Shereman

Student Project

Manager

Nhut Minh Pham

12/16/2015

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