COSTA MESA
The Mesa Consolidated Water District is at the Orange County Fair promoting its new plan to use “colored” water. The agency, which serves Costa Mesa, parts of Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport, aims to have 25% of its water come from colored aquifers by fall.
Colored water comes from aquifers hundreds of feet below the level where water is ordinarily obtained. When the water is pumped up, from about 1,000 feet below the surface, it typically has an orange or amber color and a sulfuric smell.
The source of the quirky qualities, said Mesa Consolidated spokeswoman Coleen Scarminach, lies in the organic material surrounding the underground aquifer. The organic matter would make the water unpalatable to most customers, but a filtering and cleaning process can render it pure and odorless, Scarminach said. It is possible to clean colored water for less than it would cost to import water from other areas.
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