Water Replenishment Plan Gets State Grant

The Groundwater Replenishment System, which will turn sewage into drinking water, received a $30-million grant from the state Department of Water Resources earlier this week.

The project, a joint effort by the Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District, will take highly treated sewage and purify it. The result, similar in quality to bottled water, will be pumped to spreading basins in Anaheim, where it will percolate into deep aquifers and blend with the ground water.

The grant, funded from a water bond passed two years ago, will be used to build advanced water treatment facilities, pumping stations and the 13-mile pipeline from the treatment facilities to existing spreading basins. This funding brings the total grant money for the project to $92.5 million.