santa margarita water district and cadiz

#SANTA MARGARITA WATER DISTRICT AND CADIZ HOW TO#

The $120 million project will capture runoff and help recharge the local underground aquifer. “When we started the project, we reached out to some environmental groups and received input on some things we hadn’t really thought about.” Specifically, concern about disturbing the life cycle of steelhead trout was raised, reflecting ongoing efforts to reestablish the species, which hasn’t been seen in years, according to Bunts. Three years’ environmental impact statements were necessary to satisfy regulatory agencies and skeptics that the project was environmentally benign.

#SANTA MARGARITA WATER DISTRICT AND CADIZ HOW TO#

Local studies were initiated to determine how to develop more local and sustainable water sources and - no surprise - the San Juan watershed popped up as a partial solution. “Some of this planning was coming together before, but the drought drove it to the forefront of people’s consciousness,” Bunts says. Climate change concern coincided with one of the periodic droughts that visit the semiarid region, driving the price of imported water to $1,100 an acre-foot, thereby drawing more attention from water officials. What he calls “a perfect storm” of circumstances brought home to district administration and board members the need for additional water sources. “We already are capturing some of the urban runoff in the creeks, but we are going to increase the value of that water,” Bunts says.

The watershed underlies the district’s boundaries and contains two usually dry creek beds that each year channel some 7 billion gallons of watershed runoff into the Pacific Ocean. To augment that distant supply, the district is developing local sources including the San Juan watershed. The two sources are provided through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California - Northern California and the Colorado River. “We’re looking at building some local reliability and sustainability in the event something severs our two sources of imported water.” “We import all of our potable water,” says Don Bunts, deputy general manager. Their dependency has district officials methodically working to ensure the water will be there for them in the years ahead. In all, some 160,000 customers depend on the district for their water. Its boundaries angle down across a large bloc of unincorporated Orange County before stopping short of the Pacific coast.

The district is situated south of Los Angeles and serves parts of Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita and several other small communities. These and other ideas are flowing freely at the Santa Margarita Water District headquarters as officials work to meet the challenge of providing abundant and reliably sourced water for the district’s Southern California customers. Get Infrastructure articles, news and videos right in your inbox! Sign up now.

Santa margarita water district and cadiz