Water District Secures Grants and Moves Into Final Design and Permitting Phase of the Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project (CAPP) – CVN Article Nov. 17, 2022

The Carpinteria Valley Water District (CVWD) and Carpinteria Sanitary District (CSD) have partnered to develop an advanced water purification facility which will create a drought-resilient water supply for our service area. It is evident that the District’s existing water supply portfolio is extremely vulnerable during periods of prolonged drought. Lake Cachuma is below 32% of its capacity at the time of this writing and California water agencies received just 5% of our water allocations this year from the State Water Project (SWP). Equally low or no allocations are expected in the coming years from the SWP. Our existing water supplies do not provide enough water to meet our customer’s water demand in coming years and to date we have not met our District-wide conservation goals. The Carpinteria Valley Water District moved from a Stage 2 Drought Emergency to a Stage 3 Drought Emergency as of the November 9, 2022 Board Meeting, reducing the number of landscape watering days from 3 days per week to 2 days per week to help conserve additional water. Irrigating non-functional turf, turf that is solely ornamental and not regularly used for recreation, is still prohibited throughout California for commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) water customers. We have had minimal precipitation and we must manage our water supplies under the assumption that this is the “new normal” until our local and State-wide weather conditions prove otherwise. The Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project (CAPP) will create a source of water that is not dependent on rain and will be a vital water supply when our surface water and imported water supplies become limited.

CAPP replenishes the groundwater basin with water that can be used for drinking. This process is known as indirect potable reuse or IPR. The project consists of taking water that has already been treated at the CSD Wastewater Treatment Plant, purifying it in a new advanced water purification facility, and transporting it through its own water system to be stored in the groundwater basin. An overview of this process is provided in Figure 1. This facility would create 1,000 acre-feet per year for the District, which makes up 25% of the annual water demand for our customers. Currently this water resource is treated and then released into the Pacific Ocean. We would be capturing this local water source and maximizing its use.

In addition to diversifying our water supply portfolio, CAPP will provide overall benefits to the Carpinteria Groundwater Basin (CGB) in helping to minimize the risk of seawater intrusion. CAPP will be instrumental in helping us to reach groundwater sustainability under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Indirect potable reuse is safe, sustainable, and environmentally friendly.

Initially, CAPP was estimated to cost around $30 million dollars; however, inflation has impacted projected construction costs. The project is now estimated to cost around $40 million dollars at this time. Although this is very unfortunate, it is important to keep up the momentum and push the project forward to secure a new water supply for our community, especially with no end in sight for our current drought. Without rain, our current sources of water are not being replenished and this additional source of water is being released into the ocean every day. We have the methods, technology, plans, and site selected to make this project happen. Over the course of the next three years we plan to finalize CAPP’s design, secure the required permits, pursue funding opportunities and construct the project.

So far, the District has acquired a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the amount of $9.5 million through their Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse program that provides funding for the planning, design, and construction of water recycling and reuse projects. Through the Clean Water State’s Revolving Fund (SRF) loan program, we were allocated an additional $10 million in grants for Recycled Water Projects. We are also hoping to receive $1.1 million through an Integrated Regional Water Management Planning (IRWMP) grant that was applied for this year. In October a grant became available to assist with meeting SGMA requirements. Since CAPP serves not only to create a new water supply but will also help our groundwater basin, the District plans to ask for around $15 million through SGMA funding. It is the goal of the District to keep pursuing grant opportunities in order to minimize the financial impact of constructing CAPP to its customers.

We have completed the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements for CAPP and the preliminary design and are moving into the final design and permitting phase. We plan to finalize this process within the next 18 months. Once construction begins, it is estimated to take another 18 months to build the facility, construct the conveyance pipeline, and drill the injection well. If all goes according to plan, the facility could be ready by January of 2026.

For more information on CAPP visit cvwd.net/capp/ and to stay up to date on the Carpinteria Groundwater Sustainability Agency and Groundwater Sustainability Plan development visit carpgsa.org. Both websites allow for you to sign up for e-mail updates to monitor project progress. We hope that you will continue to use water wisely. The District continues to offer rebates for residential and commercial customers for water conservation fixtures and appliances as well as rebates on WaterWise Landscape upgrades. If you are looking for a winter project, you can get some financial assistance with transforming your lawn and replacing it with native and low water use plants. E-mail conservation@cvwd.net for additional information. For District updates, please visit our website cvwd.net, follow us on twitter @CarpWater, or Carpinteria Valley Water District on Facebook and Nextdoor.