At a Glance
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas monastic community in northern California will treat their campus wastewater with constructed wetlands and other natural systems to reuse it for landscape and agricultural irrigation.
Project Description
The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas (CTTB) is the first large Buddhist monastic community in the United States. First established in 1974, the CTTB owns 700 acres of land with about 80 of those acres developed into a monastic complex. The other areas consist of fields, orchards, vineyards, and woods. CTTB is currently developing plans to expand their campus. The existing West Campus accommodates an average of 755 occupants. The proposed East Campus is estimated to double this size.
As water resources in this agricultural region are scarce and valuable, CTTB intends to treat and reuse all of the wastewater generated on the site from the two campuses. Biohabitats helped CTTB complete a master plan, conceptual level design, and permitting approach for wastewater treatment and land application infrastructure for the East and West Campuses. This approach includes primary treatment tanks, recirculating sand filters, constructed wetlands, reuse storage ponds, and drain fields. The treated wastewater will be reused as irrigation for vineyard and orchard crops on the CTTB property.
Biohabitats is continuing to work with CTTB to further develop the on-site wastewater treatment system, providing design, planning, and engineering services for all phases through construction.