The Olivenhain Municipal Water District recently started construction on a new recycled-water pipeline in Encinitas along Manchester Avenue and South El Camino Real from Via Poco to Tennis Club Drive.

Once complete, customers connecting to the new pipeline will irrigate with recycled water, which will reduce demand for imported potable water by more than 10 million gallons every year.

Recycled water is a sustainable water source that reduces the region’s dependence on imported water. OMWD is currently meeting approximately 14% of its total water demands using locally supplied recycled water for irrigation.

“Recycled water is a critical tool in our effort to diversify our water supply and reduce the impacts of drought,” OMWD Board  President Larry Watt explained. “By converting from potable to recycled water for irrigation, this project has become yet another example of how we can significantly reduce our potable water consumption.”

The new pipeline is an element of the larger North San Diego County Regional Recycled Water Project — a collaborative effort among nine North County agencies that coordinate across jurisdictional boundaries. The water that OMWD will deliver through the new pipeline is produced at San Elijo Joint Powers Authority’s water reclamation facility in Cardiff.

OMWD has aggressively sought grant funding for this project to make it cost-effective for ratepayers. The efforts have been successful, with OMWD achieving $1,350,000 from California’s Department of Water Resources for two separate segments of the pipeline, and approximately $400,000 from the US Bureau of Reclamation’s Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Program.

The project is expected to be completed in 2023 and progress updates can be found at www.olivenhain.com/projects and by following OMWD on Facebook and Twitter.