Oceanside CA- The City of Oceanside recently completed work on the 511 Pump Station. This pump station will optimize the treatment capability of the Mission Basin Groundwater Purification Facility allowing full utilization of the City of Oceanside’s groundwater resources. This will be a reliable, year-round, local supply of water. Additionally, an 18-inch diameter pipeline was completed that enhances the City of Oceanside’s water distribution. The pump station and pipeline, together with the Mission Basin Groundwater Purification Facility will now provide 15 to 20 percent of the City’s potable water supply.
The project is a Title 16 project with 25% of the funding provided by the Federal Government, The Bureau of Reclamation, the rest by Oceanside. The city’s faced some challenges with its first ever Design and Build project due to time constraints in applying for the Title 16 funds.
The new facility and new pipeline will open up 1,000 acre feet of water to Oceanside during the low demand time of Winter. “The completion of this project opens up a bottle neck in the water supply system” said Water Utilities Director Cari Dale.”We are thrilled about the completion of these important pieces in the City’s overall water system,”. “The 511 Pump Station and new pipeline will help to ensure a source of locally-controlled, safe and reliable water for the residents and businesses of Oceanside.”
These system improvements were made possible through a partnership with the Bureau of Reclamation and will result in enhanced water reliability through the development and optimization of the City’s groundwater resources.
To have this amount of groundwater available for the City’s water supply is a rare occurrence in San Diego County where natural groundwater supplies are limited. Increasing the City of Oceanside’s local water production helps free up precious supplies of imported water for the whole San Diego region.
Production of groundwater as a water supply to the San Diego region requires the extraction of water from underground reservoirs, known as aquifers. Groundwater in the San Diego region is mostly found as saline brackish water. Brackish water requires an additional desalination treatment process, the groundwater pumped by the 511 Pump Station is treated at the Mission Basin Groundwater Purification Facility before it is distributed to customers. In general, groundwater production in San Diego County is limited by a number of elements, including lack of storage capacity in local aquifers and availability of groundwater recharge.
“Although groundwater supplies are less plentiful in the San Diego region than in some other areas of California, we are proud to have maximized the utilization of the supplies that do exist in our city.” said Jason Dafforn, Water Utilities Division Manager of the City of Oceanside Water Utilities Department. The water supply provided by the new 511 Pump Station will help meet both the City of Oceanside’s water supply needs, as well as free up imported water supplies for water customers throughout Southern California, making this an important project for the entire region.
~City of Oceanside