Orange County Sanitation District
Recieves Award

The Orange County Sanitation District (OCSD) received
California’s highest environmental honor in November,
garnering one of the Governor’s Environmental and Economic
Leadership Awards. OCSD earned its award for Ecosystem
and Watershed Management for the development of its
Groundwater Replenishment (GWR) System.

The Ecosystem and Watershed Stewardship category, one of several announced by Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger, recognizes innovative and sustainable approaches to land and water
management that restore or protect natural conditions, functions and processes and provide
economic, social, and environmental benefits.

Orange County’s GWR System is the largest water purification project of its kind. It takes
highly-treated sewer water that is currently released into the ocean and purifies it using the
same technologies that purify baby food, fruit juices, medicines and bottled water.

According to the OCSD, the GWR System will create a new supply of very clean water, totaling
70 million gallons per day. The new water will be used to expand the already existing seawater
intrusion barrier along the coast and to augment groundwater supplies for northern and central
Orange County. In addition, the new water will help reduce demand on the San Francisco-
San Joaquin Delta Watershed.