What seemed like an internal dispute among San Diego County water agencies is now reverberating in Sacramento and Los Angeles, potentially raising the stakes in the outcome.
At issue is the effort by two small North County water districts to get out from under the San Diego County Water Authority umbrella and hook up with an agency in Riverside County to obtain cheaper water.
In a major step toward the potential construction of one of the largest water recycling plants in the nation, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County were joined today by federal, state and local water leaders to celebrate the start of operations at the Regional Recycled Water Advanced Purification Center.
The 500,000-gallon-per-day demonstration facility takes cleaned wastewater from the Sanitation Districts’ Joint Water Pollution Control Plant and purifies it using an innovative process that could significantly improve efficiencies and reduce costs in water recycling.
The Bureau of Reclamation will provide a total of $16.98 million to five communities in California, Hawaii and Texas to help plan, design and construct congressionally authorized Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects. Title XVI is part of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Program that focuses on improving water conservation and helping water-resource managers across the West to make sound decisions about water use
Brown and Caldwell, a leading environmental engineering and construction firm, was selected by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan) to provide engineering design services for the rehabilitation of the prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) portion of the Allen-McColloch Pipeline. Metropolitan is a regional wholesaler that provides water to 26 member public agencies that, along with their retail providers, serve 19 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. Metropolitan’s mission is to provide its service area with adequate and reliable supplies of high-quality water to meet present and future needs in an environmentally and economically responsible way.
The East County Advanced Water Purification Program progressed closer to completion with its program’s partner agencies — Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the City of El Cajon, Helix Water District and the County of San Diego — approving an Interim Funding Agreement (IFA). The IFA will ensure that the program can move forward with funding for the next year. The IFA states each agency will commit $2.35 million ($9.4 million total) towards the program that aims to create a new, local, sustainable and drought-proof drinking water supply using state-of-the-art technology to purify East San Diego County’s recycled water.
Bureau of Reclamation is awarding $35.3 million for six authorized Title XVI water reclamation and reuse projects in California. The funding will be used to improve flexibility during water shortages and diversify the water supply. “Title XVI projects provide opportunities for communities to recycle wastewater and treat water that was previously unusable,” Commissioner Brenda Burman said. “It is a proven tool that enables communities to access dependable water supplies.”
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
