$1.5 Million Federal Funding Approved by House-Senate Appropriations Committee for Groundwater Replenishment System; Funding May Provide Water for 200,000 Orange County Families.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 29, 1999--

Congressman Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, announced that a House-Senate Conference Committee finalized the FY 2000 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that contained $1.5 million for Orange County's proposed Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System.

The House and Senate are expected to approve the Conference Report this week, clearing the way for the President to sign the bill into law. The President's budget also had included $1.5 million for the GWR System.

The proposed Groundwater Replenishment System will provide Orange County with a new source of purified water to serve up to 200,000 families each year. The System will take highly treated wastewater from the Orange County Sanitation District and purify it to near distilled water quality through 100% reverse osmosis, microfiltration and ultraviolet disinfection technologies. The water will then be injected into an underground seawater intrusion barrier and also percolated into the county's vast groundwater basin.

According to Packard, "Water is the lifeblood of our communities and this legislation is designed specifically to help ensure that we are meeting our current water-related needs. This is clearly one of the most important bills Congress will pass for Orange County and southern California all year."

"Congressman Packard, as Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, has done an outstanding job of representing both the country as a whole as well as supporting key Orange County projects," said Irv Pickler, Chairman of the Joint Cooperative Committee for the GWR System.

The Groundwater Replenishment System will be located on the joint water campus of the Orange County Water District and the Orange County Sanitation District in Fountain Valley, Calif. The System will provide 100,000 acre-feet of new water for the county. An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, or enough water for two small families for one year.

Funding in the FY 2000 Energy and Water Appropriations Conference Report totals $21.2 billion. According to Packard's office, the final version of the legislation includes approximately $36 million for Orange County projects including Santa Ana River Mainstem Flood Control Project, Santa Ana River Basin, Orange County Coastline Study, San Clemente Shoreline Study, San Juan Creek Watershed, Aliso Creek Watershed, Newport Bay/San Diego Creek, Newport Bay Harbor, Huntington Beach Blufftop Park, Surfside-Sunset & Newport Beach Shoreline, and other projects.

For more information on the Groundwater Replenishment System, visit www.ocwd.com.

Orange County Water District is a special agency that was created by the California State Legislature in 1933 to maintain and manage the groundwater basin under northern and central Orange County. OCWD's groundwater basin supplies 75% of the water needs in Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster, and Yorba Linda.

Orange County Sanitation District is the largest wastewater treatment system west of the Mississippi River, serving 2.2 million residents in northern and central Orange County.