Update: Helix Water Board Halts El Monte Valley Wastewater-Recycling Project

Updated at 9:20 a.m. Thursday

The Helix Water District board of directors Wednesday voted 5-0 to suspend the $200 million El Monte Valley wastewater-recycling project, citing a delay in the availability of treated water and rising project cost.

Mark Weston, district general manager, said the Padre Dam Municipal Water District had been counted on to produce the treated wastewater, which requires upgrading and expansion of its reclamation facility. 

“Due to a revenue shortfall, Padre Dam has deferred these improvements for at least four years,” Weston said in a press release.

Allen Carlisle, the Padre Dam district’s general manager, last month told of 26 layoffs—cutting the staff to 112 positions. The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted him as saying: “We are experiencing a 34 percent reduction in water sales compared to budget in previous years,” thanks to customer conservation.

Weston said Helix learned during preparation of the draft environmental impact report that water costs had risen from $1,200 an acre-foot to about $1,850 an acre-foot.  The EIR approvals had been expected in 2013.

“Before moving forward, the district needs to have more certainty regarding both available water and total project cost,” he said.

El Monte would provide 5 million gallons of purified water per day, “regardless of drought,” to about 265,000 customers of the Helix  service area, which includes La Mesa, Spring Valley, Lemon Grove, El Cajon, parts of Lakeside and Santee, and some unincorporated areas of San Diego County, said the district.

This amounts to 15 percent of the district’s total water demand, the district said on its website.

Helix has spent about $2.22 million on the El Monte Valley project to date—of which $1.2 million was from grants from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the San Diego County Water Authority, according to Helix spokeswoman Kate Breece.

In mid-August, the Helix water board voted 4-1 to approve a 5.9 percent rate increase for district customers—also despite public outcry against the proposal.

In early March, dozens of  Helix and Padre Dam customers spoke out against what some call “toilet-to-tap” aspects of the El Monte Valley project.

Patricia Bertalan of Blossom Valley asked: “Can it be completely ruled out that there won’t be long-term consequences from drinking reclaimed water that has been contaminated with pharmaceutical waste? The effects may not be known for 10 or 20 years.”

She added that most people who are in support of the project are not the ones who will be most impacted by it.

“Has HWD done a survey of only those customers who will be drinking reclaimed sewer water to see if they are in favor or not?” Bertalan asked at a Helix board meeting March 8.

After her comments, the majority of the people in attendance clapped and cheered.

Weston, the general manager, said Helix Water District “remains committed to finding new, locally controlled sources of water to reduce San Diego County’s dependence on imported water and we will continue to explore options for water reuse.”

Weston also said:

With the El Monte Valley Project, the advanced treated recycled water has to be percolated into a groundwater basin, extracted and blended with all of the other raw water supplies, and be treated again before it can be used as drinking water. This is an example of indirect potable reuse.  The water industry is now analyzing the science and technology of direct potable reuse, to be able to blend advanced treated recycled water with other raw surface water supplies where water treatment plants are located downstream.   

If at some point in the future, the California Department of Public Health Title 22 regulations for advanced treated recycled water were changed to allow for direct potable reuse; the recycled water could potentially bypass the El Monte Valley and be placed directly into Lake Jennings.  Advanced treated recycled water is higher quality than our imported water supplies.  Pumping advanced treated recycled water directly to Lake Jennings will also eliminate the need for recharge facilities in the Valley and lower the project cost.

We will actively seek legislative and/or regulatory revisions which would allow direct potable reuse by collaborating with agencies that have similar projects or water supply objectives.

Helix Water District will continue to keep the public informed as we pursue other options to bring a new water supply to the region.

In a March 6 op-ed piece in the Union-Tribune, Weston wrote:

The same technology that is used to desalinate ocean water is used to create new water from wastewater at a lower cost with enhanced environmental benefits. Highly treated wastewater is commonly used for irrigation throughout the county.

Further, treating this water by using microfiltration, 100 percent reverse osmosis and advanced disinfection produces water that meets or exceeds all drinking water standards. Filtering this water through the natural sands in a groundwater basin is the final step.

Using this technology, Orange County Water District produces 70 million gallons of drinking water a day that is injected into the groundwater basin and delivered to thousands of homes and businesses every day. Water agencies globally use these technologies to meet drinking water demand.

Helix Water District and Padre Dam Municipal Water District, located in the East County, are partnering to develop the $200 million El Monte Valley Project. The plan calls for producing highly purified water from wastewater using 100 percent reverse osmosis at Padre Dam’s Water Reclamation Facility in Santee.

This purified water will be piped 11 miles to the El Monte Valley, east of Lakeside, where it will be percolated into the groundwater basin. The water will be retained in the aquifer for a minimum of six months where it will blend with naturally occurring groundwater. This groundwater will be removed and mixed with Helix’s raw water supplies and then treated again at the R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant for delivery to customers, creating 5,000 acre-feet of new water to meet 15 percent of Helix’s needs.