After emerging from a five-year drought in the early 1990s, the City of Carlsbad realized it had little control of its water future. Carlsbad and San Diego County were at the end of a long water pipeline that served much of Southern California, and unless the city did something different, even radical, a string of outside water agencies had a profound say over the city's drinking water supply.
That drought was a big wakeup call, and Carlsbad's response was to explore new water sources that would make the city more self-sufficient during times of drought.
City officials saw a reliable water supply as an important factor in preserving Carlsbad residents' high quality of life, and in attracting and retaining thriving businesses, especially those that depend on water in their manufacturing or cleaning processes.
As a result the city has developed one of the most robust water recycling systems in the county. Last month the City Council, acting as the board of the Carlsbad Municipal Water District, awarded a $7.3 million contract to CDM Constructors to design and construct the expansion of the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility.
This expansion program will increase the capacity of the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility by 75 percent, so it can treat and recycle 7 million gallons a day. It currently treats up to 4 million gallons a day. The expansion program also includes adding 18 miles of new pipe to the existing 79-mile recycled water distribution system, and building a new 1.5 million gallon reservoir.
When this expansion phase is completed in 2020, about one of every four gallons of water used by Carlsbad customers will be recycled.
The City of Carlsbad also played a significant part in the development of a genuinely drought-proof supply of water, desalinated ocean water. If you've driven along Carlsbad Boulevard and peered onto the grounds of the Encina Power Station, you've probably seen construction activity. And if you work near the Carlsbad Research Center, you've probably had to cope with traffic delays as construction crews dug up the roadways to lay new pipe. This work is part of the Carlsbad Desalination Project, which, when completed, will be the largest ocean water desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. This $1 billion plant is being developed by Poseidon Water through an agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority. When completed the plant is expected to provide as much as 50 million gallons of drinking water a day to businesses and residents throughout the county via the County Water Authority's distribution system.
Poseidon has said that the plant may begin delivering water from this new source as early as September, which is not a moment too soon, considering that state restrictions have required Carlsbad to reduce consumption by 28 percent. Desalinated ocean water will provide a major new drought-proof supply that will meet about 7 percent of the county's water demands in 2020.
Poseidon is developing the plant through an agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority, but for many years the City of Carlsbad was the lead public agency that kept the project alive.
City officials, and in particular the late Mayor Bud Lewis, were committed to exploring desalinated ocean water as a possible new source, and the city approved the project's environmental impact report in 2005. As a result, Carlsbad and San Diego County will soon have a new, independent water supply that is unencumbered by drought restrictions.
Each gallon of recycled water that is used to irrigate parks, golf courses, street medians, freeway landscaping, and even The Flower Fields saves a gallon of drinking water.
And each gallon of desalinated ocean water that enters the region's drinking water supply is one less gallon that comes from Northern California or the Colorado River, easing pressure on the state's hard-pressed water supply.
Conservation will always play an important role in managing our drinking water supply, but the city's development of a water recycling program and desalinated ocean water is a long-term strategy that helps maintain our local economy and quality of life.
That drought was a big wakeup call, and Carlsbad's response was to explore new water sources that would make the city more self-sufficient during times of drought.
City officials saw a reliable water supply as an important factor in preserving Carlsbad residents' high quality of life, and in attracting and retaining thriving businesses, especially those that depend on water in their manufacturing or cleaning processes.
As a result the city has developed one of the most robust water recycling systems in the county. Last month the City Council, acting as the board of the Carlsbad Municipal Water District, awarded a $7.3 million contract to CDM Constructors to design and construct the expansion of the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility.
This expansion program will increase the capacity of the Carlsbad Water Recycling Facility by 75 percent, so it can treat and recycle 7 million gallons a day. It currently treats up to 4 million gallons a day. The expansion program also includes adding 18 miles of new pipe to the existing 79-mile recycled water distribution system, and building a new 1.5 million gallon reservoir.
When this expansion phase is completed in 2020, about one of every four gallons of water used by Carlsbad customers will be recycled.
The City of Carlsbad also played a significant part in the development of a genuinely drought-proof supply of water, desalinated ocean water. If you've driven along Carlsbad Boulevard and peered onto the grounds of the Encina Power Station, you've probably seen construction activity. And if you work near the Carlsbad Research Center, you've probably had to cope with traffic delays as construction crews dug up the roadways to lay new pipe. This work is part of the Carlsbad Desalination Project, which, when completed, will be the largest ocean water desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. This $1 billion plant is being developed by Poseidon Water through an agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority. When completed the plant is expected to provide as much as 50 million gallons of drinking water a day to businesses and residents throughout the county via the County Water Authority's distribution system.
Poseidon has said that the plant may begin delivering water from this new source as early as September, which is not a moment too soon, considering that state restrictions have required Carlsbad to reduce consumption by 28 percent. Desalinated ocean water will provide a major new drought-proof supply that will meet about 7 percent of the county's water demands in 2020.
Poseidon is developing the plant through an agreement with the San Diego County Water Authority, but for many years the City of Carlsbad was the lead public agency that kept the project alive.
City officials, and in particular the late Mayor Bud Lewis, were committed to exploring desalinated ocean water as a possible new source, and the city approved the project's environmental impact report in 2005. As a result, Carlsbad and San Diego County will soon have a new, independent water supply that is unencumbered by drought restrictions.
Each gallon of recycled water that is used to irrigate parks, golf courses, street medians, freeway landscaping, and even The Flower Fields saves a gallon of drinking water.
And each gallon of desalinated ocean water that enters the region's drinking water supply is one less gallon that comes from Northern California or the Colorado River, easing pressure on the state's hard-pressed water supply.
Conservation will always play an important role in managing our drinking water supply, but the city's development of a water recycling program and desalinated ocean water is a long-term strategy that helps maintain our local economy and quality of life.