The partnership between OC San and the Orange County Water District (OCWD) goes back many decades. In 2008, we launched the world’s largest water purification system for indirect potable reuse known as the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS).

The GWRS is a water recycling project that supplements existing water supplies by providing a new, reliable, high-quality source of water to recharge the Orange County groundwater basin and to protect it from seawater intrusion.

The Final Expansion of the GWRS will expand the system to increase water production from 100 to 130 million gallons per day (mgd). The Final Expansion requires four main projects, all currently in construction.

Take a look at what has been done so far. 

One project managed by OCWD is expanding the existing GWRS treatment facility at the OCWD campus along Ward Street in the City of Fountain Valley. Other projects include constructing new facilities at OC San’s Plant No. 2 (Plant No. 2) in Huntington Beach and rehabilitating an existing pipeline between Plant No. 2 and the GWRS facility along the Santa Ana River. By building these new facilities, treated wastewater from Plant No. 2 that would otherwise be released into the ocean, will be sent from Huntington Beach to the GWRS facility in Fountain Valley for water recycling to produce enough water for up to one million people. This will allow us to recycle 100 percent of reclaimable flows. 

 More information about GWRS can be found at www.ocwd.com/gwrs. Construction updates for the projects located at Plant No. 2 are at www.ocsan.gov/gwrs.