A ribbon-cutting ceremony at Flora Vista Elementary School on Nov. 28 celebrated the beginning of operation of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District (OMWD) Village Park Recycled Water Project. OMWD Board President Edmund Sprague cut the ribbon — while Encinitas City Council member and Board Chair of the San Diego County Water Authority Mark Muir and Encinitas Mayor Elect and Board Chair of the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority Catherine Blakespear were also in attendance — at the Encinitas elementary school, which will be the first OMWD customer to receive this new source of recycled water for landscape irrigation, now that the project’s pump station and seven miles of pipeline are in service.

Encinitas schools and homes gained millions of gallons of recycled water this week when the Olivenhain Municipal Water District launched a new distribution system for its Village Park Recycled Water Project.

The project, which started taking shape in spring 2015, can offset up to 14 millions of gallons of potable water use each year, officials said. It will eventually serve more than 20 schools and homeowner’s associations, and will bring the district’s total recycled water usage to 20 percent, said Kimberly Thorner, general manager of the district.

 

The Olivenhain Municipal Water District celebrated the opening of the Village Park Recycled Water Pump Station Monday — a facility that will mean saving millions of gallons of water for the Encinitas area. The pump station itself is buried underground and is capable of pumping three million gallons of recycled water into the community every day, which is roughly 114 million gallons every year.

It started with a 2011 study that indicated by the turn of the century there would be no more Joshua trees in the national park named after the iconic desert plant. And likely none in California. “I was shocked when the study came out. I wanted to look at the details and change the scale,” said Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist for the UC Riverside Center for Conservation Biology in Palm Desert.

 

Dozens of water agencies in drought-weary California may receive only 20% of their requested deliveries in 2017, state officials said Monday. But the Department of Water Resources’ initial allocation forecast is double what was announced a year ago. Officials said winter storms in coming months may boost the first 2017 allocation, but they point out that California’s deep drought lingers. Initial allocations almost always change. This year’s 10% allocation ultimately gave way to a 60% allotment.