|
<< Back to
Press Release Main Page
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS TO EXPAND PROTECTION
OF ORANGE COUNTY'S GROUNDWATER BASIN FROM SEAWATER INTRUSION
Pipeline is part of visionary
project that will provide new
source of high quality water
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.
– The Orange County Water District (OCWD) announced today
that construction is under way on a pipeline that will help provide
additional protection to Orange County’s vast groundwater
basin from saltwater intrusion. The announcement coincides with
National Groundwater Awareness Week March 16-22, which is designed
to raise awareness about groundwater as a valuable natural resource.
The pipeline, running from Ellis Avenue and Ward Street in Fountain
Valley to Adams Avenue near the Santa Ana River, is being built
as part of the Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System, an innovative
project designed to deliver a new supplemental source of high
quality water. The System will take highly treated sewer water
from the Orange County Sanitation District, which is currently
sent to the ocean, and purify it to drinking water standards or
better using reverse osmosis, which is used by many bottled water
companies.
The additional water will be used to expand the seawater intrusion
barrier as well as provide a new source of highly quality water
to improve the overall quality of the water in the groundwater
basin – the primary source of water for north and central
Orange County residents. The 9,000 feet of new pipeline will deliver
the additional water to the barrier, once the project is completed
in 2007.
“The groundwater basin is one of Orange County’s most
precious resources,” said Denis Bilodeau, president of the
Orange County Water District Board of Directors. “Expanding
the seawater barrier is needed to help maintain this natural resource
for future generations.”
OCWD has protected the underground basin from ocean intrusion
for the past 25 years by purifying sewer water to drinking water
standards and injecting it into the groundwater basin to keep
the seawater out. The seawater barrier expansion is designed to
meet future needs, and will include eight new injection wells
and increase the water that is injected underground each day from
15 million gallons to 40 million gallons.
Future work on the GWR System includes demolishing the existing,
smaller Water Factory 21 water purification plant in Fountain
Valley; constructing a new, larger more advanced technology water
purification plant; and constructing new injection wells, a pump
station and a large diameter 13-mile pipeline from Fountain Valley
to one of OCWD’s groundwater basin recharge lakes in Anaheim.
The project will produce 72,000 acre-feet (or 22.8 billion gallons)
of purified water.
The GWR System’s purification process takes highly treated
sewer water through a redundant high-tech water treatment system
that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet
light with hydrogen peroxide. The water produced by the advanced
purification system will be of near-distilled water quality.
Almost one-fourth of the cost of the $450 million water purification
project has been obtained through State and Federal grants. The
impact of this project on the average water bill will be less
than the cost of two postage stamps per month. Orange County Water District is a special
district that was created by the California State Legislature
in 1933 to maintain and manage the groundwater basin under northern
and central Orange County. OCWD’s groundwater basin supplies
75% of the water needs in Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress,
Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine,
La Palma, Los Alamitos, Newport Beach, Orange, Placentia, Santa
Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and
Yorba Linda.
Orange County Sanitation District is the third
largest wastewater treatment system west of the Mississippi River,
serving 2.2 million residents in northern and central Orange County.
<< Back to Press
Release Main Page
|