On June 1 San Diego County officials broke ground on the East County Advanced Water Purification (AWP) Program, marking an important milestone for the project, East San Diego County, and the surrounding region.
The East County AWP Program aims to create a new, local, sustainable, and drought-proof drinking water supply using state-of-the-art technology to purify East San Diego County’s recycled water.
Program representatives, elected officials, and water industry leaders gathered at the future site of the treatment facility in Santee, Calif. to celebrate the program. Officials in attendance included representatives from the East County AWP Joint Powers Authority, San Diego County Water Authority, Bureau of Reclamation, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The groundbreaking follows approval of project construction on May 19, 2022, by the East County AWP Joint Powers Authority (JPA). This authority owns and operates the program and is a collaborative partnership between four agencies: Padre Dam, the City of El Cajon, the County of San Diego, and the Helix Water District. The overall cost for the project is $950 million and it is estimated to create 2,500 jobs in the region.
Scheduled to be complete in 2026, the East County AWP Program will generate up to 11.5 million gallons per day of purified water— meeting approximately 30 percent of current drinking water demands for East San Diego County residents and businesses. The Program will use four advanced water purification steps to produce water that is near-distilled in quality.
“Today marks an exciting moment for our East San Diego County customers!” said Allen Carlisle, Padre Dam and JPA administrator CEO/general manager. “We are now one step closer to creating a local, reliable, and sustainable drinking water source that will reduce our dependence on increasingly expensive imported water. The East County Advanced Water Purification Program is a smart investment that provides a long-term solution for increased stability in our communities and safeguards the vitality of our economy and quality of life.”
After the advanced water purification process, the purified water will be blended with water in Lake Jennings and treated again at Helix Water District’s R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant before being distributed as drinking water.
