DANA POINT : District Installs New Water Line

Water officials in the South Coast Water District are breathing easier about their ability to handle an emergency after the completion of a 27-inch water line.

Installed at a cost of $10.5 million, the six-mile-long pipe will give the district better access to water sold by the area’s main importer, the Metropolitan Water District.

“The new water line will provide a back up to our existing water system,” said Mike Dunbar, South Coast district manager, “enabling our district to better respond in the event of an emergency like an earthquake, fire or prolonged drought.”

Construction crews worked on the water line for 18 months, laying pipe from Stonehill Drive in Dana Point to Avenida Pico in San Clemente. The project was finished last week.

“Without the water-importation pipeline, we would not have been able to connect with Metropolitan Water District’s major transmission line,” Dunbar said. “This would have eventually resulted in a 9.7-million-gallon-per-day water shortfall for the district.”

The project was built in partnership with the Tri-Cities Water District, which serves San Clemente and parts of Dana Point.

It was financed with $8 million in bonds and $2 million in connection fees from newly developed properties. A property owner with a $400,000 home paid $144 in the first year of the bond issue with the bill decreasing each following year.

“If we tried to raise the money by raising water rates, it would have resulted in a 40% to 50% increase in the cost of water,” Dunbar said. “By approving the general obligation bond issue, our community provided the lowest financing and allowed themselves a tax write-off.”