New wells added to city water system
Ray Huard
North County Times
12/06/2011
Completion of two new wells near Oceanside's water desalting plant off Mission Avenue will help with the city's goal of reducing its reliance on costly imported water, utility officials said Tuesday.
The $1.3 million project finished in September means the city will be providing about 20 percent of its own water, said Greg Blakely, administration manager of city water utilities.
"The more we can pump, the less dependence we have on imported water," Blakely said after a report Tuesday to the city Water/Sewer Committee.
For now, the city buys most of its drinking water from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District through the San Diego County Water Authority.
By 2030, city officials hope to get half of the city's water from local sources so they'll have more direct control over the water rates paid by city residents.
Adding the two wells to the system brings the city just a little closer to that goal, Blakely said.
The wells are south of Highway 76 next to Fire Station 7 at 3350 Mission Ave.
Water utilities Director Cari Dale said the new wells provide important backup to six existing wells that pump salty water to the Mission Basin Groundwater Purification Facility at 215 Fireside Drive.
"It allows some of the wells to rest while others operate and produce that water," Dale said. "It's good to have redundancies in the system."
Proof of that came Tuesday with committee endorsement of a $136,492 plan to take two existing wells off line for repairs.
Blakely said one of the wells has become clogged with sand.
The wells produce brackish, salty water that is pumped to the desalting plant where it is filtered and treated through a reverse osmosis system at the purification plant to make it suitable for drinking.
With the addition of the new wells, the plant will be running at full capacity, Blakely said.
