City to Build $25M Recycled Water System

More than 100 new customers, including schools, commercial parks, homeowners associations and city property will be served by a $25.1-million extension to San Clemente's recycled water system.

The San Clemente City Council Tuesday approved the project, which will snake miles of pipelines and add filters and pump stations throughout the city to help reduce the irrigation demands on the drinking water system in town.

Assistant City Engineer Dave Rebensdorf said the improvements to the system would help diversify San Clemente's water supply, which is important because almost all of it is now imported from the north.

The first part of the system will include adding a new pump station, sand filters, chlorine chambers and associated electrical equipment at the city's water reclamation plant, allowing the city to reclaim 2.5 million more gallons of wastewater every day, doubling the plant's current capacity, Rebensdorf said.

This phase of the project will cost $9.08 million Rebensdorf said.

The second part of the project includes converting a 2 million-gallon reservoir at Calle Cordillera from potable water to recycled water, replacing it with a new 200,000-gallon drinking water reservoir. The project will also add a meter to control the amount of recycled water in the Bella Collina Golf Course pond and install 10,726 feet of pipe, according to staff reports.

This part of the project will cost $5.2 million, Rebensdorf said.

The third part of the project includes a pressure-reducing station and 38,0000 feet of pipe along Calle Frontera, Avenida Vaquero, Avenida Vista Hermosa, Camino Vera Cruz, The Reserve and Marblehead Inland, according to staff reports.

This part of the project will cost $8 million, Rebensdorf said.

Additional costs for the projects include contingency funds, construction management and design work, bringing the total cost to $25.1 million, Rebensdorf said.

Some $14 million of that money will come from the state's revolving loan fund. Other money comes from various state and city sources, including a $5.7 million grant from the state's Prop 50 fund and $3.15 million from the city's sewer connection fee fund, according to the staff report.

All the contractors' bids were approved Tuesday and construction starts in January, Rebensdorf said.