City of Modesto begins construction to connect 600 people to safe drinking water

CARPINTERIA, CA – Celebrating a new source of drought-proof drinking water supplies for another California city, the State Water Resources Control Board joined the City of Carpinteria, Carpinteria Valley Water District, and Carpinteria Sanitary District today to break ground on the Carpinteria Advanced Purification Project, a facility that will be able to inject up to 1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day into the groundwater basin for future drinking water supplies.

The new facility, which is expected to be completed in 2029, will recycle the region’s wastewater by conveying it through an advanced treatment system and storing it below ground. Within a few months, this water can be extracted and used to augment supplies for the district’s 16,000 residents.

Currently, Carpinteria’s wastewater is treated at the sanitary district’s existing plant and discharged to the Pacific Ocean.

“In California, reusing wastewater is key to improving water security and also helps the environment by reducing discharges to the ocean, but it can be expensive,” said State Water Board Member Sean Maguire. “Having distributed over $2 billion for water reuse projects since 2019, state assistance is helping keep projects like these within reach, especially for smaller cities like Carpinteria. I congratulate the city and the districts for their hard work to improve water security for their residents.”

The board provided $44 million, or about half of the total cost of the $90 million project through a low-interest, $39 million loan from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and a $5 million grant from the Recycling General Fund.

“During extended droughts, surface water deliveries are diminished, which puts a lot of stress on our groundwater basin,” said Kelley Dyer, General Manager for Carpinteria Valley Water District. “Replenishing groundwater and building local water supplies is a top priority for us, although water supply projects are very expensive, especially for smaller cities. The low-interest financing and grant from the State Water Board is making it possible for us to move forward with building a more reliable water future for Carpinteria.”

Increasing drought-proof water supplies through recycling forms part of Governor Gavin Newsom’s Water Supply Strategy, which addresses the anticipated loss of precipitation due to hotter, drier weather. The board supports these goals through its regulatory and financial assistance. The volume of recycled water being produced is gradually increasing each year as more facilities are funded, permitted and constructed. While amounts vary year to year, the volume of recycled water produced in California has increased by roughly 50% since 2000—from about 525,000 acre-feet in 2000 to a high of 750,000 in 2022. 

Since 2019, the board has provided almost $2 billion for water recycling projects that are projected to generate about 280,000 acre-feet of water per year when complete, or enough water to sustain 840,000 households. The board expects to provide another $150 million in Prop 4 grants by the end of fiscal year 2025-26 for recycling projects that will generate an additional 71,000 acre-feet per year.

The State Water Board’s mission is to preserve, enhance and restore the quality of California's water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper resource allocation and efficient use for present and future generations.