en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Carpinteria Valley Water District in California has launched the Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project (CAPP), which is expected to meet a quarter of the local water demand upon completion in 2029. The $90.7 million project aims to enhance water supply reliability by establishing a local water source to address future droughts.

The project's predecessor, the Carpinteria Joint Management Water Supply Project, was first proposed in 2016 and included plans for a large purification center, 10-inch pipelines, and two injection wells for conveying recycled water. District General Manager Kelley Dyer noted that while California's water reserves are currently sufficient, droughts are inevitable, and "the significance of the project lies in having a local water source available every year."

The 12,000-square-foot purification facility, located at the Carpinteria Sanitary District, can produce 1.3 million gallons of purified water per day. The treated wastewater will be injected into the groundwater basin and later extracted as a drought-resistant water source for approximately 16,000 residents on California's Central Coast. Currently, the area's wastewater is treated at the sanitary district's existing plant and discharged directly into the Pacific Ocean.

Dyer stated that during the last drought (2020-2023), surface water supplies decreased, and reliance on groundwater extraction caused water levels to drop to historic lows. "Although there have been several wet years since then, the groundwater levels have not yet recovered. This project will replenish our basin and raise groundwater levels."

Currently, the Carpinteria Valley Water District's water supply primarily comes from the Cachuma Project, which collects runoff from the Santa Ynez River at Lake Cachuma, supplemented by the Carpinteria Groundwater Basin and up to 2,000 acre-feet per year from the State Water Project. External water purchases are an option but are costly and unreliable: they may cost hundreds of dollars per acre-foot in wet years and thousands of dollars per acre-foot in drought years.

The total cost of the CAPP project is approximately $90.7 million, including $73.3 million in construction costs and $17.4 million in related planning and permitting fees. The State Water Resources Control Board will provide $39 million in low-interest loans through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and a $5 million grant from the Recycling General Fund, totaling $44 million, roughly half of the project's total cost.

Sean Maguire, a member of the State Water Resources Control Board, noted that for small cities like Carpinteria, such projects are typically too costly, but the board's funding has made the project feasible. He stated that guided by California Governor Gavin Newsom's water supply strategy, the board is continuing to fund more purification facilities. Climate models predict that California will lose 10% of its total water supply by 2040. To adapt to hotter and drier conditions, the Governor's office aims to recycle at least 800,000 acre-feet of water annually by 2030, increasing to 1.8 million acre-feet by 2040.

Dyer believes that Carpinteria's investment proves that water security cannot rely on rainfall. "We all know another drought is coming—it's not a matter of 'if,' but 'when.' Having a local water source will help ensure our reliability in the future."

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