COUNTYWIDE : Expansion Project Closes Waterline

An imported-water pipeline serving 350,000 customers between Yorba Linda and Mission Viejo has been shut down for construction on a $60-million expansion project, water officials said.

Water service to customers in nine affected water districts in east and south Orange County was not interrupted, but the public is being asked to halt outdoor watering to help ease the burden on stored water supplies, said Stan Sprague, general manager of the Municipal Water District of Orange County.

“If we can get a 50% cutback in water use, which would come mostly from water used outside the home, we’ll be in great shape,” Sprague said.

Yorba Linda Water District, which serves 60,000 people, faces the worst impact from the shutdown because 55% of its water supply comes from the pipeline, district spokesman Mike Robinson said. To remedy the situation, a temporary waterline has been hooked up to neighborhoods in east Yorba Linda and the district’s reservoirs are now full, Robinson said.

Other areas depending solely on the pipeline are the Los Alisos Water District in the Lake Forest area, El Toro Water District, Moulton-Niguel Water District in Laguna Hills, and Laguna Niguel and Santa Margarita Water District in Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita. Sprague said these districts would receive water piped in from other areas.

The construction project, scheduled for completion Jan. 30, kicked off an expansion of the 32-mile Allen-McColloch pipeline that links the Metropolitan Water District’s Dima Filtration Plant with waterlines in South Orange County. By installing a 66-inch-diameter line to parallel an existing 84-inch-wide line, more water can be pumped to these districts, Sprague said.

The project also includes a three-mile extension of the pipeline to water districts serving San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente.