Groundwater Replenishment System

ORANGE COUNTY WATER DISTRICT RECOMMENDED FOR
MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FUNDING FOR OPERATION OF
GROUNDWATER STORAGE AND PROTECTION PROJECT
Twenty-three year incentive would lower future cost of new water

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – The Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System water purification project was recently nominated to receive a multi-million dollar financial incentive that will significantly lower the future cost of water for ratepayers over a period of more than 20 years. The board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California authorized Orange County Water District (OCWD) to receive up to $86.3 million, over 23 years, for an innovative project that will produce enough water for 140,000 families annually.

The OCWD project, in conjunction with the Municipal Water District of Orange County, is among 13 earmarked for funding under Metropolitan's Local Resources Program (LRP). The program offers local agencies financial incentives to foster the creation of new water sources that ultimately reduce the area's dependence on imported water and ensure future regional water supply reliability.

The 23-year financial incentive agreement will provide OCWD with annual funding of up to $3.75 million for the GWR System. OCWD will receive the inaugural payment from the LRP funds when the state-of-the-art advanced water purification plant begins producing water in 2007.

"We are pleased that MWD is our new partner in the Groundwater Replenishment System. As public entities, we are dedicated to providing our consumers with the highest quality water at the best possible price, so being selected to receive these funds is especially rewarding," said Denis Bilodeau, president of the Orange County Water District board of directors. "It reaffirms MWD's commitment to the residents in north and central Orange County to expand use of their groundwater resources."

The need for new water in Orange County has grown dramatically in recent years. MWD, the large imported water agency that provides water to Southern California, is counting on projects like the GWR System to help ensure future water reliability.

Metropolitan received 27 applications for LRP funding competitive process. OCWD was one of 13 recommended by a review committee to receive the incentive funding.

The GWR System will take highly treated sewer water that is currently released into the ocean and purify it with technologies used by bottled water companies, including microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide disinfection. About half of the purified water will become part of a seawater barrier to prevent ocean water from contaminating Orange County large groundwater basin. The other half of the purified water will be pumped through a 13-mile pipeline to percolation ponds in Anaheim where it will seep into deep aquifers and blend with Orange County's other sources of groundwater, following the same natural filtering path rainwater takes through the ground.

Orange County's current water supply is made up of about 60 percent groundwater and 40 percent imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California. The GWR System will provide reliable water during droughts, a reoccurring event in Southern California.

The GWR System is a joint project of OCWD and Orange County Sanitation District.

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The Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System, a new high-tech water purification system, will produce water similar in quality to bottled water. GWR System water will be used to service a larger, expanded seawater barrier and to help drought-proof Orange County's groundwater basin by providing better water reliability and more local control over part of our water future.

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.