Laguna County Sanitation District, California, USA – Exploring converting non-drinking recycling to groundwater augmentation

The Laguna County Sanitation District provides wastewater services and serves the unincorporated Orcutt/Santa Maria area on the Central Coast of northern Santa Barbara County. The area’s water supply includes groundwater, State Water Project, and contracts with the City of Santa Maria.

In addition the District already proudly recycles 100% of the wastewater it receives with a treatment train including ultra filtration, reverse osmosis and UV disinfection. Excess water is stored in a reservoir and irrigated on District-owned cattle pasture, since the District does not have a water body discharge.

The reliance on the State Water Project and City of Santa Maria reduces the independence of the Orcutt area in times of drought. To address this, this project is exploring transitioning from non-drinking recycling to indirect potable reuse with groundwater augmentation. This would provide a better, higher value use of water than the current irrigation usage. When there is excess water, it can be sent to the pastures.

While the existing treatment steps position this scheme well to potentially transition to recycling water for drinking, the District is exploring partnership and funding options to move forward.