Mesa Consolidated moves forward with plans to use colored water

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The Mesa Consolidated Water District is hoping to use a

new treatment plant to pump more water from the ground -- which could

save money for the agency and its customers.

The water board voted to pursue a plan to use up to 100% ground water

-- 25% more than the Orange County Water District normally allows. The

regional water district is scheduled to consider Mesa Consolidated’s

request in October.

Mesa Consolidated now gets 75% of its water from underground aquifers.

“It is important for us to get this approved because if we are able to

pump more ground water, we’ll be importing less water and using water

that’s less expensive,” said Lynette Round, a Mesa Consolidated

spokeswoman.

The colored-water treatment plant is expected to open in September. It

will be use an ozone and biofiltration process to remove the slight tea

color and sulfur-like smell from colored water, which is ground water

found in aquifers between 600 and 1,200 feet deep.

The water is very pure and high in quality, but its color and smell

can be a turnoff to some, said Ron Wildermuth, a spokesman for the Orange

County Water District.

An acre foot of regular ground water costs about $157, and the rest of

the area’s water must be imported from the Colorado River and Northern

California at a higher cost, about $450 per acre foot.

Colored water is right in between, at about $320 per acre foot, he

said.

In Southern California, an acre foot of water is enough to supply two

average families for one year.

Mesa Consolidated plans to substitute colored water for imported

water, a measure that will not lower rates immediately but should keep

them stable when surrounding districts’ water bills rise, Round said.

No other local water district is currently using colored water, and

that leaves between 10- and 16-million acre feet of the resource

untapped.

Right now, colored water is just taking up space that could be filled

with clear water that all local water districts have the technology to

use, Wildermuth said.