Rancho Verde Apartments Greywater Treatment and Recycling

Project Description

When the Buenaventura, California Housing Authority was developing Rancho Verde, a multi-family, rental low-income housing community for agricultural workers, they sought a sustainable and precedent-setting solution for water management. The site was originally left in trust to the University of California for use related to regional sustainability and agriculture.

Working with an integrated design team, Biohabitats developed a system that collects and treats greywater from the community’s laundry facilities and recycles it for use in landscape irrigation. The design criteria required the system to be simple to construct, operate, and maintain. The system, which includes a self-cleaning cascade pre-filter, pump basin, recirculating sand filter, and tertiary filtration, reuses treated water for landscape irrigation, offsetting a minimum of 50% of the demand. It is capable of recycling approximately 600 gallons of water per day into a consistent, sustainable supply.

In addition to making a positive impact on local water use and educating tenants and owners, the system also allowed the developer to obtain sizable USDA Rural Farmworker Housing Grant program and achieve LEED Platinum certification.