News

At Wednesday’s board meeting, the Board of Directors took an integral step toward the construction phase of the Village Park Recycled Water Project (VPRWP) by awarding the second and final construction contract for the project to AToM Engineering Constuction, Inc (AToM).

The VPRWP consists of two main facets: the relocation of the Thornton Pump Station Pipeline, which will allow Wiegand Reservoir to be converted to recycled water use, and the construction of nearly 7 miles of recycled water pipelines through existing streets in the Village Park community. AToM will construct the Thornton Pump Station Pipeline Relocation, while construction of the remainder of the project will be handled by SC Valley Engineering, Inc., to which a contract was awarded on February 11. The Thornton Pump Station Pipeline portion of the project was put out for bid separately from the rest of the project in order to achieve cost savings.

“With contractors in place, we will soon be breaking ground on a project that is critically important to diversifying our local and regional water supplies,” said OMWD General Manager, Kimberly Thorner.

Construction of the VPRWP will begin in spring 2015, starting with the relocation of the Thornton Pump Station Pipeline, just west of Via Cantebria in Encinitas.

Currently, OMWD is meeting with HOA representatives from areas in which construction will take place to facilitate the conversion of sites from potable to recycled water once the recycled supplies are available. Prior to commencing construction, OMWD will engage area residents as to the details of construction work, including how OMWD is working to minimize the construction impacts of the project to the community.

Upon completion, the VPRWP will diversify OMWD’s water supply offsetting potable water typically used for irrigation of greenbelts, HOA-maintained areas, and school landscapes, resulting in the delivery of up to 350 acre-feet (about 114 million gallons) per year of recycled water to the Village Park community of Encinitas. By utilizing recycled water, OMWD is able to diversify its water supplies away from increasingly costly imported water, increase water supply reliability, enhance water conservation efforts, and reduce discharges of treated wastewater to the ocean.

More information on the VPRWP is available at www.olivenhain.com/villageparkrw. Once construction begins, regular updates about the project will be available on OMWD’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/olivenhainwater) and Twitter feed (@OMWD) using the hashtag #VillageParkRW.