Local News in Brief : Construction Starts on Water-Saving Project

Construction began Friday on a $15-million conservation project that is expected to save an equivalent of one-tenth of the water used in Orange County.

The water would be diverted from sources that otherwise would run off into the ocean, according to the Orange County Water District.

The project--a pump and delivery system to carry storm runoff from the Santa Ana River to an abandoned 200-acre sand and gravel pit in east Orange--will provide water for an estimated 150,000 people after its completion in about a year, water district official Pat Thomas said.

“Right now, we’re looking at a shortage of imported water from the Colorado River and Northern California,” Thomas said.

The ground water from the project is expected to be purer than imported water because of a natural filtration process as water percolates into the ground, Thomas said. The percolation process removes many of the solid particles present in river or reservoir water, he said.

A large portion of the flow in the Santa Ana River comes from waste treatment plants upstream, Thomas said. “In that sense, we’re actually reusing a lot of water that has been used upstream, treated, purified, then pumped back into the river.”