Aerojet Rocketdyne, City of Folsom Collaborate to Alleviate California Drought Conditions

Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp company, and the city of Folsom, Calif., have completed infrastructure improvements that are designed to preserve the water capacity of Lake Folsom by using treated groundwater for the company's industrial water system. The improvements include upgrades to a groundwater treatment plant and the construction of an interim pipeline, which will supply about 2 million gal of water per day to Aerojet Rocketdyne while reducing the amount of water the city supplies to the company by 2/3.

"Aerojet Rocketdyne is dedicated to the protection of the environment, our employees and the communities in which we work and live," said Chris Conley, vice president of Environmental, Health & Safety at Aerojet Rocketdyne. "For many years, our environmental engineers have worked aggressively to effectively clean groundwater and we're happy to help our neighbors in the city of Folsom during this especially dry year."

"We appreciate Aerojet Rocketdyne's willingness to devise this innovative solution to reduce reliance on our limited water supply," said Evert Palmer, city manager of Folsom. "Folsom and Aerojet Rocketdyne have a history of working together and we look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial relationship for years to come."

This is the driest year in recorded state history, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a State of Emergency.

Aerojet Rocketdyne's site in Sacramento currently extracts and treats groundwater under the oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the California Department of Substances Control, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board and pursuant to a Record of Decision.

Under a 2007 agreement between Aerojet Rocketdyne and the city of Folsom, Aerojet Rocketdyne agreed to provide water from one of its Groundwater Extraction and Treatment facilities for use at the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility. This agreement required facility modifications and other permanent infrastructure improvements. The permanent connection is scheduled for completion in 2016. However, in response to the State of Emergency and the serious drought conditions, Aerojet Rocketdyne collaborated with the city of Folsom to install an interim pipeline to the Groundwater Extraction and Treatment facilities before the permanent infrastructure is completed.

Source: Aerojet Rocketdyne