Escondido Picks Firm to Devise Its Water Reclamation System

As part of its long-range plan to build a water-reclamation plant, the Escondido City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to hire a Laguna Hills-based company to design the plant’s distribution system.

The system has a base-line cost of $6 million, but the entire network could cost as much as $60 million, depending on how large the system is, city officials said.

The city has already hired a consultant to design the upgrading of its water treatment plant on Hale Avenue to reclaim 18 million gallons of sewage a day. The cost is projected at $29 million.

“This is the next step in getting reclaimed water,” said Cynthia Ferguson-Salvati, the city’s water reclamation and conservation director. “You have to be able to transport the water out to the users there.”

“We’ve done a fairly comprehensive review within the city of the ones that we know of at this time that can use the water,” Ferguson-Salvati said.

Among those potential customers is the Olivenhain Municipal Water District, which has told Escondido it would be interested in using about 5 million gallons a day of the non-potable reclaimed water.

Olivenhain sits along the route now used to carry Escondido’s treated sewage to the ocean.

Within the city, the largest potential consumers of reclaimed water are the avocado growers and the golf courses, Ferguson-Salvati said. Tests are still being done to determine whether reclaimed water is suitable for growing avocados.

“The pilot project that we’re doing will work on how they grow on regular, potable water and two or three different blends of potable and reclaimed water. The hope is that we can give them a blend of water, or they can use the reclaimed water alone that will grow avocados,” Ferguson-Salvati said.

Daniel Boyle Engineering, the consultant hired to design the distribution system, has worked on two similar projects in Orange County.

“I don’t see any differences in Escondido from the South Coast assignment (in Orange County). Basically, it will be the same challenges,” said Daniel Boyle, owner and managing engineer of the firm.

The contract with Boyle is worth $441,700 and could take a year to complete, Salvati-Ferguson said. Five firms submitted proposals for the contract, she said.

“We feel that they are a very good firm, they’ve worked with the state and the regional water people and the Caltrans people, and they’ve done right-of-way stuff before,” Salvati-Ferguson said.

The city plans for the reclamation plant to be completed by summer of 1993 and hopes to finance it through its own money, grants and low-interest loans from state and water agencies.