LA readies $1.4bn Hyperion enabling works as Pure Water programme is re-sized
City of Los Angeles, California · Meeting date: October 9, 2026 · Published: October 12, 2026
Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment is preparing to procure a progressive design-build team for foundational works at Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, the first implementation phase of Pure Water Los Angeles. Meanwhile, LADWP and LASAN expect a feasibility study to determine the eventual scale, routing and treatment configuration of the city’s major potable-reuse programme by mid-2027.
Key points
- Hyperion Phase 1A is estimated at $1.4 billion and around 10 years to complete; LASAN is preparing a request for qualifications for a progressive design-build contract.
- The city is re-sizing a programme previously put at $26 billion over 30 years, with affordability and variable water supplies central to the review.
- The earlier master-plan concept contemplated up to 230mgd of purified Hyperion flow, equivalent to roughly half of the city’s reported 424mgd water use.
- Phase 1A would create space and hydraulic resilience at the built-out plant, including demolition of abandoned facilities, new pumping and flow-equalisation infrastructure.
- LASAN said converting Hyperion to membrane bioreactors under Pure Water LA could cut nitrogen discharges to Santa Monica Bay by 85%.
Full report
Los Angeles is preparing to launch the first major implementation package for Pure Water Los Angeles at Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant, while undertaking a feasibility review to determine how much of the city’s ambitious potable-reuse programme it can build without creating an unaffordable or under-used asset.
LASAN said it is preparing to issue a request for qualifications for a progressive design-build contract covering Hyperion Phase 1A, described as the programme’s foundational infrastructure project. The package is estimated to cost $1.4 billion and take about 10 years to complete. LASAN recently submitted a $20 million grant application to the US Bureau of Reclamation to support the design phase.
Phase 1A will not itself produce recycled drinking water. Instead, it is intended to prepare Hyperion for future conversion to membrane bioreactors and advanced purification. The work includes demolition of abandoned facilities to create construction space at the largely built-out site, as well as a new pump station and flow-equalisation tanks intended to improve plant hydraulics and resilience.
The procurement preparation comes as LADWP and LASAN reconsider the scale of a programme that had previously been estimated at $26 billion over 30 years. Pure Water Los Angeles was formed in 2025 by combining earlier Hyperion 2035 and Operation Next planning efforts, responding to a 2019 target of recycling all Hyperion flow.
The feasibility study will assess treatment, conveyance routes, capacity and final treatment locations, with city staff expecting to know “exactly what we’re going to build” around the middle of 2027. Its findings will feed into environmental review.
Under the earlier master-plan concept, the programme could ultimately purify up to 230mgd of Hyperion flow. That compares with LADWP’s reported five-year average city demand of 424mgd. The previous schedule envisaged an initial 50mgd becoming available around 2040, followed by a further 50mgd roughly six years later, with full build-out by 2058. Staff stressed that these dates and quantities may change through the re-sizing exercise.
The review is being driven by the need to displace higher-cost Metropolitan Water District supplies while retaining the Los Angeles Aqueduct as a lower-cost foundational source in wet years. LADWP warned that building excessive reuse capacity could leave the city with water it cannot use when aqueduct runoff is high and groundwater spreading grounds are full. The city is also examining partnerships with neighbouring agencies and opportunities to use existing infrastructure, since conveyance represents more than half of programme costs, according to the presentation.
Beyond supply diversification, LASAN identified environmental and operational benefits. Hyperion’s current activated-sludge process removes carbon pollutants but not nitrogen. The proposed membrane-bioreactor conversion would remove both, allowing an 85% reduction in nitrogen discharges to Santa Monica Bay, LASAN said. The programme will be phased to maintain Hyperion’s continuous operation during what staff described as a multi-decade conversion.
This summary was generated by AI based on the source document and may contain errors.
Source: Energy and Environment Committee, City of Los Angeles