Metropolitan’s history may be rooted in importing water to Southern California, but the Board of Directors just made a huge commitment to develop a new local supply.
The Board voted last week to commit up to $286 million in incentives to San Diego’s Pure Water recycling project over the next 25 years.
The $1.4 billion project, being developed by the city of San Diego, will use advanced treatment processes to purify cleaned wastewater to create a drinking supply for the city’s residents. The first phase is expected to produce 33,600 acre-feet of water annually, which will be used to help fill the city’s Miramar Reservoir.
The funding will come from Metropolitan’s Local Resources Program (LRP) which provides financial incentives to member agencies to develop local water supplies, such as water recycling, groundwater recovery and desalination.
The Board’s decision is just the latest commitment to recycled water. Since 1982, Met has invested $500 million in 85 LRP recycling projects, resulting in 2.9 million acre-feet of water.
“Recycling projects like Pure Water San Diego help reduce demand on imported water, decrease the burden on our infrastructure and free up capacity on Metropolitan’s conveyance system. That is immensely valuable to the entire region,” General Manager
Jeffrey Kightlinger
said after the Board’s vote.