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U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO INCREASE FUNDING FOR GROUNDWATER REPLENISHMENT SYSTEM
Bill would increase federal funding to $80 million
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – The United States House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1156, federal legislation sponsored by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Congressman Gary Miller to increase authorization for the Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System from $20 million to $80 million.
H.R. 1156 amends the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act of 1992 to increase the ceiling on the Federal share of the costs for the GWR System.
The GWR System takes highly treated sewer water and purifies it to near-distilled quality water through a state-of-the-art, high-tech water purification system that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide. The purified water will become part of a seawater barrier and also be pumped through a pipeline to recharge basins 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.
The GWR System is a $486.9 million joint project of the Orange County Water District and Orange County Sanitation District. It will ultimately provide enough water to meet the annual needs of 144,000 families when the project goes on line in 2007. Orange County’s current water supply is made up of about 50 percent groundwater and 50 percent imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California.
“We’re especially grateful to Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez and Congressman Gary Miller for their leadership on this important piece of legislation,” said Denis Bilodeau, president of the Orange County Water District. “Orange County’s entire Congressional Delegation has continually shown its commitment to finding new water supplies. They are true water visionaries.”
H.R. 1156 will next be heard in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, Subcommittee on Water and Power in September.
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.
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