Groundwater tapped

South Coast Water District will add the first drops of locally obtained water to its distribution system by the end of the year from its new Groundwater Recovery Facility, located in Dana Point.

When the facility is fully operational, about 10% of the district’s drinking water will come from the San Juan Groundwater Basin rather than Northern California or the Colorado River, according to district officials.

Today, the district is 100% dependent on imported supplies of drinking water.

“By tapping into this new local water source, the district will reduce its reliance on imported water supplies, which are decreasing due to drought, climate change, changes in government policy and legislative decisions restricting flows to Southern California,” said Mike Dunbar, South Coast Water District general manager, in a news release.

“In a few years, we will add a second well to the facility and meet 20% of the demand for drinking water in our district with this local source,” Dunbar said. The district is permitted to extract groundwater from the San Juan Basin by the California State Water Resources Control Board.

The district provides drinking water to Dana Point, South Laguna and areas of north San Clemente. The total annual demand for potable water in the district is approximately 7,500 acre-feet per year or 2,500 million gallons.

Initially the Groundwater Recovery Facility will produce 800 acre-feet of potable water a year (260 million gallons a year; 712,000 gallons a day), making local water approximately 10% of the district’s total supply.

Ultimately, the district plans to produce 1,500 acre-feet of potable water a year (489 million gallons a year; 1.3 million gallons a day), approximately 20% of the district’s total supply.

“We built the Groundwater Recovery Facility to produce a sustainable, local supply of water for the communities we serve in the face of decreasing imported water supplies,” said Dunbar.

The agency will continue to diversify its potable supply, provide recycled water for irrigation, promote water conservation and expand water storage to assure a reliable water supply into the future, he said.

“There is no one solution to water reliability, no ‘silver bullet.’ It’s a mix of solutions — and development of local water is an important part of that mix,” Dunbar said.

The Groundwater Recovery Facility is located on the district’s 30-acre property in Capistrano Beach, next to San Juan Creek.