LVMWD Announces Partnership to Pilot State’s First Blue Water Farm

OceanWell and Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD) announced today their partnership to pilot California’s first-ever Blue Water farm. LVMWD Board of Directors unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that paves the way for the public/private partnership to research an environment-first approach that addresses the increasing concern of water scarcity and reliability. Blue Water is fresh water harvested from the deep ocean or other raw water sources.

This, first-of-its-kind project, will test OceanWell’s proprietary water purification technology to produce safe, clean drinking water without the environmental impacts of traditional coastal desalination methods.

The collaboration comes at an opportune time, as the region recovers from years of record-breaking drought that disproportionately impacted LVMWD’s customers. Diversifying LVMWD’s water portfolio is critical to minimizing future climate change impacts. The strategy includes embracing innovative solutions to create local water resources that reduce the region’s dependence on imported water.

“We are excited to embark on this cutting-edge initiative with OceanWell,” commented David Pedersen, LVMWD general manager. “Providing clean, healthy, and consistent water to our customers is the most important function of our water utility. Researching new technology can help us ensure a more sustainable and reliable water future.”

This partnership aims to establish the first-ever Blue Water farm by using OceanWell’s state-of-the-art submerged filtration technology that revolutionizes the process of supplying fresh drinking water from any raw water source, including the ocean. Blue Water farms use water pressure at depths of over 1,000 feet to drive the reverse osmosis process, while safeguarding marine life and protecting delicate aquatic ecosystems. The system is reliable, low energy, scalable and minimizes the need for onshore facilities and the associated environmental impacts.

“This MOU and the collaboration with LVMWD are a major milestone in our ‘environment first’ strategy, aiming to bring OceanWell water farms to California municipal water systems,” said Robert Bergstrom, OceanWell’s founder and CEO. “After seven years of research and technological development, we are proud to present OceanWell as a sustainable, reliable, and environmentally friendly source of fresh water.”

OceanWell’s technology can be used in fresh, brackish, or saltwater environments, allowing any raw water source to become a potential source for drinking water. The pilot project will start testing the state-of-the-art technology in the District’s Las Virgenes Reservoir in the City of Westlake Village.

Learn more about OceanWell at www.oceanwellwater.com.

Be sure to visit lvmwd.com and follow LVMWD on Facebook, Twitter @lvmwd and Instagram @LasVirgenes_MWD to keep up to date on project development.

Las Virgenes Municipal Water District provides potable water, wastewater treatment, recycled water and biosolids composting to more than 75,000 residents in the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village, and unincorporated areas of western Los Angeles County