Metropolitan gives boost to Orange County stormwater capture project

Metropolitan Water District is funding a new innovative stormwater capture project that will recharge the Orange County Aquifer and help water managers understand the benefits of stormwater capture, under an agreement approved this week by the district’s board of directors.

The contract with the city of Anaheim provides $980,000 for the State College Stormwater Tank Project, which will capture stormwater runoff and direct it into repurposed wastewater pipes beneath State College Boulevard in Anaheim, across from Angel Stadium. The water will be cleaned and filtered before being sent back into the Orange County Aquifer, providing a valuable source of local groundwater for the region.

“This project is just one more example showing the transformation of Metropolitan – in addition to importing water, we’re taking measures to adapt to the changing climate through local actions like studying the benefits of stormwater capture,” said Metropolitan board Chair Adán Ortega, Jr. “With the help of our local agencies, we are working to find creative, local and other sustainable solutions to ensure our region has the water it needs for years to come.”

In 2019, Metropolitan launched its Stormwater Pilot Program to provide financial incentives for water agencies to develop, monitor and assess stormwater projects across Metropolitan’s 5,200 square-mile service area, with a goal for Metropolitan to better understand the water supply benefits of stormwater capture throughout the region.

“Studying and investing in a diverse range of local water supplies is critical to ensuring a reliable and sustainable future for Southern California,” said Metropolitan General Manager Deven Upadhyay. “By supporting innovative projects like this one, we are gaining valuable insights into how stormwater can fit into our regional water supply and increase our resilience.”

With a total project cost of $2.49 million, the Anaheim stormwater project is estimated to capture about 65 acre-feet of water each year to help recharge the local groundwater basin (an acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough water to serve roughly three Southern California families). As part of the requirements for the Metropolitan funding, Anaheim will install monitoring devices to track how much stormwater is captured and recharged, and report those results through annual reports over a three-year period. Metropolitan will use that data, as well as information from other projects participating in the pilot program, to guide decisions on future programs.

Since 1982, Metropolitan has funded $1.7 billion in conservation, recycling and groundwater recovery projects developed by its member agencies through its Local Resources Program, creating over 8.5 million acre-feet of local supplies throughout the region.