News Staff:

Regional Water Reclamation Project Protects Groundwater & Connects Homes/Businesses to MSWD Wastewater System

During a special Mission Springs Water District Board of Directors meeting today, the Board authorized staff to enter into a $68 million grant agreement to fund the District's Regional Water Reclamation Facility and accompanying conveyance line and M2 area septic to sewer projects. 

The funding is being provided by the state's Budget Act of 2021 and Proposition 1 – the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 – through an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board.

Located north of Interstate 10, near 20th Avenue and Little Morongo Road in Desert Hot Springs, the new facility will treat an additional 1.5 million gallons of wastewater daily. Protecting local groundwater, the new plant will allow homes using septic tanks to connect to the MSWD wastewater treatment system. The facility will also support the addition of tertiary treatment in the future, providing recycled water to enhance the region's water conservation efforts.

"We've spent nearly a decade planning and preparing for this project, and the timing is finally right to move those plans forward and into action," said Board President Russ Martin. "With the help of the Regional Board and the State Water Resources Control Board, our financing could not be better, and we cannot thank these boards and their staff enough for all of the assistance they have provided."

The project includes the construction of a 1.5 million gallon per day Sequence Batch Reactor treatment plant that will dispose of treated secondary effluent in on-site disposal ponds. It also consists of an operations and administration building that will house a solids processing area, chemical storage area, maintenance area, administrative Area, electrical room, and blower room.

The accompanying septic-to-sewer project will remove 405 existing septic tanks and connect approximately 687 parcels in the District's M2 Area to the wastewater system. In addition, the regional conveyance line will convey flows from Areas L and M1 (currently served by the District's Alan L. Horton Wastewater Treatment Facility) and Area M2 to the new treatment plant. The diversion of these flows will lessen the burden on the Horton plant allowing additional maintenance and extending its lifespan.

MSWD held a special groundbreaking ceremony for the Regional plant in June to celebrate the start of the project's construction phase. At the time, the District had set its sights on additional grant funding, having already secured more than $16 million in grants and pre-approval for low-interest loans.

"When we held the groundbreaking, we knew that full funding was in the works and that moving forward would not preclude us from receiving the grant or prevent us from using it to cover work already being performed," added President Martin.

The regional plant and conveyance line projects are expected to be operational by the Fall of 2023, and the M2 septic-to-sewer project is anticipated to be complete by Summer 2024.

For additional information or a virtual plant tour, please visit www.mswd.org/rwrf.