The Tesla Treatment Facility will be the site of a ceremony at 10 a.m. Thursday at 9000 W. Vernalis Road. Jim Marks of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission said Tesla will be the largest ultraviolet water treatment plant in the state when it opens in a few years.
As many as 315 million gallons of water will be treated each day, according to the commission. Tesla, which the commission said is a $112 million project, will clean drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy regional water system that serves 2.5 million people in the Bay Area.
The ultraviolet rays make sure that pathogens in the water can’t reproduce, Marks said, killing off any chance of infection for the people who drink it. Members of the commission will be on hand to explain the process and give a demonstration, and San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors Chairman Leroy Ornellas, a Tracy dairy farmer, will also be there to speak, as will a few other local dignitaries.
Marks said while the Bay Area will get the water, San Joaquin County will get a bevy of new jobs.
“For the central valley, this project plus some others we have planned will create about 900,000 hours of work in the trades and crafts over the next few years,” Marks said. “That’s a bit of economic activity going into the region.”
Construction should be completed by the middle of 2011, Marks said, and it will open by March 31, 2012.
•Contact Tracy Press reporter Justin Lafferty at 830-4269 or jlafferty@tracypress.com.
I do not think that water goes to us at all. Lucky's, I bet it will taste better than ours.
Still gotta go to Pure Water.
Do I detect a cynical tone to your comment? :)
The article says the ultra violet rays will stop pathogens from reproducing. Doesn't say anything about the waters taste. I'm still going to Pure Water. :)