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Santa Margarita, City Celebrate Restoration of Groundwater Plant’s Clearwell Tank

/in , /by /The Capistrano Dispatchby Shawn Raymundo

It was this past January when the roof support of the clearwell water tank at San Juan Capistrano’s Groundwater Recovery Plant gave way, requiring local officials to take it offline.

“Why is that important?” asked Laura Freese, a member of Santa Margarita Water District’s governing board. “Well, this is the way we get our water from the aquifer, our local water, our groundwater, and so we needed to get it back up really fast.”

Santa Margarita, which operates the plant as the town’s water utility agency, spent the next six months and roughly $1.8 million conducting repairs to the reservoir tank that holds about 320,000 gallons of drinking water.

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Santa Margarita Water District Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for Ranch Water Filtration Plant

/in , , /by /The Capistrano Dispatchby Collin Breaux

The Santa Margarita Water District is getting started on its first drinking water treatment plant, which will be in Rancho Mission Viejo. SMWD representatives and local officials celebrated the coming new plant with a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 16. The Ranch Water Filtration Plant will be located near the intersection of Ortega Highway and Antonio Parkway, and near the Chiquita Water Reclamation Plant.

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Poof! Plans Underway to Transform Sewage Into Electricity, Clean Water

/in , , /by /The OC Registerby Martin Wisckol

It’s like a magic trick for poop. Put it in one end of the machine, and out the other comes electricity, distilled water and a small amount of ash. And there’s none of the greenhouse gas — namely methane — produced by traditional sewage treatment and sewage sludge decomposition.

Though it might seem futuristic, this innovative blueprint has attracted grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission, the latter to the tune of $1.6 million. The money is helping to fund a demonstration project at south Orange County’s Santa Margarita Water District. Partners include Stanford University’s Codiga Resource Recovery Center.

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Vast New Reservoir in South Orange County Gets Its First Drops of Water

/in , , /by /The Orange County Registerby Martin Wisckol

Right now, it’s just a huge hole in the hills off Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano. Really huge, as it’s designed to hold 1.6 billion gallons of water.

It’s still dry as dirt, but promises to be a central component of future water supplies for the 165,000 people served by the Santa Margarita Water District. While the district currently imports 100% of its drinking water from  the Colorado River and northern California, the new Trampas Canyon Reservoir is part of a plan to generate 30% of potable water supplies locally and to recycle more wastewater.

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South Orange County Water Reservoir, Dam Project Still Moving Forward

/in , , /by /The Capistrano Dispatch (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)by Collin Breaux

A water dam and reservoir under construction on land acquired from Rancho Mission Viejo has not been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Santa Margarita Water District Deputy General Manager Don Bunts.

Recent rainfall, however, has affected the Trampas Canyon Dam and Reservoir project, which intends to store recycled water. Work on the project restarted on Monday, April 27, after being delayed for a few weeks, Bunts said.

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One Idea, Two Cool Things: Desalinated Water and Renewable Energy

/in , , /by /Orange County Registerby Martin Wisckol

The contraption, reminiscent of Rube Goldberg, would produce two of Southern California’s most precious and essential resources: water and electricity.

The electricity would be renewable. And the drought-proof, desalinated ocean water could prove more environmentally friendly — and cheaper — than the water produced from three other desalters proposed for Southern California.

The idea, developed by Silicon Valley-based Neal Aronson and his Oceanus Power & Water venture, caught the attention of the Santa Margarita Water District. The agency quickly saw the project’s viability to fill a void.

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Reservoir Project in California Aims to Store Recycled Water

/in , /by /The Capistrano Dispatchby Collin Breaux

A reservoir and water dam project aiming to store recycled water is on track, according to water management officials.

The Santa Margarita Water District gave a tour of the Trampas Canyon Reservoir and Dam on Saturday, Nov. 16. Construction began in January 2018 and is expected to finish by 2020.

The dam and reservoir are south of Ortega Highway on land acquired from Rancho Mission Viejo. The reservoir is intended to hold 1.6 billion gallons of recycled water.

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