Advanced Purified Water

Advanced Purified Water Identified As Best Lake Refill Solution The Santa Margarita Water District is proposing an Advanced Purified Water project for lakefill for Lake Mission Viejo. View the NOTICE OF INTENT TO ADOPT A MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION FOR THE SANTA MARGARITA WATER DISTRICT ADVANCED PURIFIED WATER PROJECT.   LMVA Unanimously Approves Measure to Switch Lake Refill to Advanced Purified Water - June 2, 2015 Details   Special Meeting of the Delegates, June 2nd, 2015 - 7pm Click Here     August Switch Seen for New Lake Refill Source 2016 Lake Mission Viejo's conversion to a drought-proof, safe and sustainable new water source received a welcome boost in April, as the City of Mission Viejo approved financing to fund construction of the new Advanced Purified Water (APW) production facility. City approval came after a few months of discussions, whereas receiving approval for more expensive State project funding would require much longer. Santa Margarita Water District reports that with this quick funding, APW production can begin this August. "The City's faster timing is a great benefit for the Association's members," said Kevin Frabotta, Lake Mission Viejo Association's General Manager. "State drought restrictions limit our water purchases, and without this new supply, lake water levels could start dropping to low levels by September. Thankfully, we will now have an abundant water supply and can properly maintain the lake." The City’s financial package, proposed by Mayor Frank Ury, includes a $1 million grant and a $3 million low-interest loan. Any additional construction costs, which could be up to $1.5 million, will be provided by SMWD. The $1 million dollar grant represents a $50,000 per year savings to the Association over the 20 years. LMVA's Directors and Delegates unanimously approved the switch from potable (drinking) water to APW last May. APW is produced by including three additional treatments to recycled water that has already received three levels of treatment and is approved by the State for use in swimming lakes. The extra treatments will produce water that is on par with the water currently being used to fill the Lake. The Lake loses about 600 acre-feet of water annually to evaporation and seepage, and receives about 350 acre-feet of replacement water from natural sources. The balance, approximately 250 acre-feet of water during an average rainfall year, is purchased from SMWD. An acre-foot is enough water to meet the needs of three suburban households for a year.   2015 In early April, Gov. Jerry Brown stood in a bone-dry Sierra meadow that normally would be snow-covered at this time of year and announced new drought emergency regulations. As California enters its fifth year of severe drought, these new restrictions on water use are much needed - and Lake Mission Viejo Association is doing its part. Water conservation is nothing new to the Association. In the early 1980s we became one of the first customers for recycled water from Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD). Since then, using recycled water has freed up hundreds of millions of gallons of potable (drinkable) water for domestic use that otherwise would have watered plants.   We are currently working with SMWD to plan the expansion of recycled water delivery to virtually every bit of landscape maintained by the Association.   In the North Beach parking lot areas we are removing 31,000 square feet of turf, replacing it with drought-tolerant plants and drip irrigation, which will save over 1,000,000 gallons of potable water annually.   We also are working with SMWD to find an alternative to the approximately 250 acre-feet of potable water we use annually to help maintain Lake Mission Viejo's water levels. (250 acre-feet is enough water to meet the annual needs of 500 families.) Once a detailed analysis of the alternatives is completed, they will be presented to the Board of Directors for consideration. Currently, the most likely alternatives appear to be using Advanced Purified Water (recycled water that has undergone additional stages of treatment), or earning a "potable water credit" in return for paying to extend recycled water infrastructure to a large irrigation user who then could be removed from the potable water system.