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• Legal, environmental, political and population issues threaten future water supplies. In fact, surplus water supplies currently available from the Colorado River will be eliminated by 2016.
• Large population increases are predicted for the future. By 2020, Orange County’s population is expected to increase by as many as 500,000 people; Southern California by 7 million and statewide by 15 million. By 2020, California’s population will expand to the size of Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Oregon and Wyoming’s populations together.
• The California Department of Water Resources predicts water shortages for the entire state by 2020 of 2 to 6 million acre-feet per year. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons or enough water for two families of four for one year.
• Water supplies Orange County currently receives from the Santa Ana and Colorado rivers are reduced because both river systems are affected by a five-year drought.
The Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System supports the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California’s plan to provide a reliable source of water for all of Southern California.
FACT: The GWR System will protect our drinking water from the saltwater contamination from the ocean.
• The groundwater basin is naturally connected to the ocean.
• Since 1975, Orange County’s Water Factory 21 has been purifying sewer water to drinking water standards or better, and injecting it into the ground to create an underground pressure barrier (dam) that protects the fresh water in the underground aquifer from saltwater contamination.
• As Orange County’s use of groundwater increases, it could allow the ocean to encroach around the sides of the barrier. For this reason, it is necessary to expand the size of the barrier and increase the amount of water injected into the groundwater basin.
• The GWR System will provide the additional water needed to expand the underground seawater intrusion barrier.
FACT: The GWR System reduces the amount of water released to the ocean.
• Without this project, the Orange County Sanitation District would need to consider building another ocean outfall to handle increased flows to the ocean in the future.
• The GWR System will purify that water for use in the seawater intrusion barrier and in augmenting local water supplies.
• The $170 million cost of building a second ocean outfall will be used to help pay for the new advanced water purification facility instead.
• A new ocean outfall would take many years to plan, design and build and might have difficulty gaining environmental acceptance.
FACT: The GWR System is the least-expensive source of new water for OCWD ratepayers.
• GWR System water will be substantially cheaper than water produced by seawater desalination. Desalinated water costs range between $800 and $2,000 an acre-foot to produce, while the GWR System can produce high-quality water for approximately $525 an acre-foot.
• Rate increases associated with droughts, a recurring phenomenon in Southern California, will be lessened because the GWR System water is drought-proof.
• The cost of GWR System water is comparable to the current cost of imported water.
• A comprehensive cost-benefit analysis determined that the GWR System produced greater benefits than expanding Water Factory 21 and increasing purchases of imported water, a commonly cited alternative to the GWR System.
FACT: The GWR System will reduce mineral levels in Orange County's groundwater.
• The Santa Ana and Colorado Rivers are the major sources of water to replenish the groundwater basin – both sources are high in minerals.
• Each year, more minerals go into the groundwater basin than come out – about 62,000 tons every year. That makes our groundwater “hard” water with a growing mineral content.
• The GWR System process produces water with a very low mineral content and similar in quality to bottled water. GWR System water is so low in minerals, that as with many bottled water companies, minerals must be added to the water in order to stabilize it.
• As GWR System water blends with water from other sources in the groundwater basin, over many years, it will help counteract the mineral buildup.
 Download the document Helping Meet Orange County's Need for Water (80K PDF file)
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