During May, share what the value of water means to you on Instagram for the chance to win great prizes from our partners around San Diego County, including Balboa Park attractions, San Diego Botanic Garden, and the Water Conservation Garden. The San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies are hosting their annual photo contest to celebrate Water Awareness Month in May.
The Mission Trails Flow Regulatory Structure II Project, or FRS II, will be an underground concrete water tank in Mission Trails Regional Park that will store slightly less than five million gallons of water and be used to balance flows in the aqueduct system. FRS II will be the second underground water tank in the park – both work to efficiently move water through the region. Construction is underway and expected to be completed in 2022.
The Mission Trails Flow Regulatory Structure II Project, or FRS II, will be an underground concrete water tank in Mission Trails Regional Park that will store slightly less than five million gallons of water and be used to balance flows in the aqueduct system. FRS II will be the second underground water tank in the park – both work to efficiently move water through the region. Construction is underway and expected to be completed in 2022.
Improving the region’s water infrastructure ensures that San Diego County residents are getting a clean, safe, and reliable supply. The FRS II project is another example of the successful long-term strategy by the Water Authority and its 24 member agencies to diversify its water resources, make major upgrades in the regional water delivery and storage system, and improve water-use efficiency.
The underground reservoir is being constructed within the park to improve the Water Authority’s untreated water system in the northwest area of the park. The upgrade will increase reliable water delivery to treatment plants that serve the central and south sections of San Diego County.
In 2013, the Water Authority finalized the Regional Water Facilities Optimization and Master Plan Update, the agency’s roadmap for infrastructure investments through 2035. This updated plan focuses on optimizing the Water Authority’s existing infrastructure while maintaining the flexibility to adjust to a range of future water supply needs.
Once complete, the dirt hill will be leveled to its previous contours and revegetated with native plants – many seeded from plants within the park itself. The reservoir will be completely underground – out of sight – but within the control of the San Diego County Water Authority.
“The San Diego County Water Authority is building a massive 5-million-gallon concrete water storage tank, called a flow regulatory structure. You will never see it once it’s completed.” — Joe Little, Reporter, NBC 7, April 9, 2021.
The @SDCWA brought a little of Ancient Rome to #MissionTrails. It’s good for water, but temporarily annoying for hikers. @nbcsandiego at 4:30 and 6:00. pic.twitter.com/s0mud7MGim
— Joe Little🎥🏀 (@LittleJoeTV) April 9, 2021
[Editor’s note: This feature, the Value of Water, focuses on the projects, operations and maintenance by the San Diego County Water Authority and its 24 member agencies that increase the value, reliability, and safety of water for ratepayers in San Diego County.]
The City of San Diego Public Utilities Department conducts regular surveys of its watersheds to monitor and maintain high water quality within those watersheds.
The City recently released its 2020 Watershed Sanitary Survey. Conducted and issued every five years since 1996 as required by California law, the report identifies actual or potential causes of local source water contamination that might adversely affect the quality and treatability of City of San Diego water.
The updated information is used as a basis for future watershed management and planning efforts. City of San Diego tap water meets all state and federal drinking water health standards, the primary standards for treating and monitoring water.
“Development and other activities in our watersheds can have a profound influence on the quality of our water,” said Shauna Lorance, director of the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department. “The Watershed Sanitary Survey is important for identifying potential negative impacts and ways to better protect our watersheds.”
Everything that is on the land, whether a natural feature or a human activity like grazing cattle at this area near the Sutherland Reservoir, is part of the watershed. Photo: City of San Diego
A watershed is an area of land that drains water into a specific body of water. Everything that is on the land, whether a natural feature or a human activity, is part of the watershed. Many places San Diego County residents live, work, and play in are watershed areas.
There are 11 westward draining watersheds in San Diego County. Six are within the City of San Diego: San Dieguito River, Los Peñasquitos, Mission Bay and La Jolla, San Diego Bay, San Diego River, and Tijuana River.
The City of San Diego’s nine water supply reservoirs have a combined capacity of over 550,000 acre-feet and more than 900 square miles of watershed lands tributary to these reservoirs. Local runoff from watersheds captured in City reservoirs accounted for about 11% of total drinking water production from 2015-2020.
Six of San Diego County’s watershed regions lie within the City of San Diego boundaries. Map: City of San Diego
Reservoirs are critical components of the regional water supply system, as water is supplied to nearly two million people in the City of San Diego and neighboring communities. Protecting these water sources is vital to providing healthy and safe drinking water. The public can assist in preventing watershed damage through source reduction and preventing stormwater runoff.
The survey offers recommendations including continuing and expanding public awareness programs to help protect watershed, and implementing projects and programs to improve land management and water quality of source waters. All recommendations will be used for future watershed management and planning efforts.
The full 2020 Watershed Sanitary Survey, as well as past surveys, is available on the City’s website.
Editors Note: The City of San Diego is one of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies working collaboratively with the Water Authority to increase the value, reliability, and safety of water for ratepayers in San Diego County.
The water industry has a visibility problem. Often the only time that water professionals are contacted is when things have gone wrong.
Calls come in when a pipe bursts. Angry emails from a local homeowners’ association detail how sewers are backing up in basements. Lawsuits are filed when contamination is found in drinking water.
If you followed the news, you would think there are only problems and few successes with water infrastructure in the U.S. But that’s not the case. Part of the visibility problem with water infrastructure is that the industry does such a good job of making things work. In most situations things are not falling apart. Contamination is not an issue. Sewage backups are solved or eliminated, and people spend their game day blissfully unaware of the infrastructure keeping their finished basement dry.
These are successes we tell ourselves within our bubble, but they aren’t told to a wider audience. It is time to change that.
There is beauty and art in the engineering of these systems. Whether it is an array of aerators for a new mixing tank, the reflection of the sunrise in an open-air clarifier, or the organized jumble of purple pipe at a water reclamation facility, water infrastructure is not invisible. It’s right there.
Below is a growing and updated list of examples of water infrastructure throughout the U.S. Tag @WWDmag or @BCrossen on Twitter with your pictures of your infrastructure to be included in this ever-evolving and growing list. Or send an email to with the subject line “This is water infrastructure” with your location, facility name and what you admire about your local infrastructure.
A Water & Wastes Digest story said the water industry has a visibility problem with infrastructure. The magazine article featured this San Diego County Water Authority tweet, among others, on April 2, 2021.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
