East County Advanced Water Purification Project

The East County AWP Project is a potable reuse project in East County and is a collaborative effort among Padre Dam Municipal Water District, the County of San Diego, City of El Cajon, and Helix Water District.

Currently, a majority of the East County’s wastewater flow is discharged into the San Diego regional collection system for treatment and disposal into the Pacific Ocean. Additionally, almost all of the drinking water in the East County is provided by imported water from northern California and the Colorado River. The East County AWP Project will treat the East County’s wastewater locally and implement potable reuse by producing advanced treated water from an advanced water purification (AWP) facility, which will be pumped to Lake Jennings Reservoir, for surface water augmentation (SWA), where it will be mixed with other water owned by Helix. After SWA, the water will be sent to Helix’s R. M. Levy Water Treatment Plant for treatment to become potable water.

The AWP Project will treat the combined 16 mgd wastewater flow at the Water Recycling Facility, producing 11.5 mgd of purified water at the AWP Facility. 10.3 mgd will be delivered to Lake Jennings Reservoir for SWA IPR and 1.2 mgd will be distributed to Padre Dam Title 22 recycled water customers. Retrofits/expansions of lift stations and a regional brine line will also be constructed for residuals (brine and centrate) management. The AWP Project is expected to come online in 2025.

The Joint Powers Authority (JPA) governs the AWP Project and consists of the three East County wastewater agencies (i.e., Padre Dam, the County, and El Cajon). Carollo is providing Owner’s Advisor services to the JPA, working with Padre Dam as the administrator, to provide the necessary management and administrative support, procurement support, professional engineering and technical assistance, information and data management planning, and future construction, start-up, and commissioning support services.