SOLEDAD’S RECYCLED WATER CONVEYANCE PROJECT:

The City of Soledad has been working for 20 years on utilizing recycled water to preserve its groundwater resource. From the water we drink, shower, clean, and irrigate, one of the highest uses of water a City experiences is turf irrigation. Soledad parks and schools use up to 231 acre-feet (approximately 75 million gallons) for turf irrigation alone. Therefore, this project aims to install approximately 5 miles of pipeline in the City to establish a citywide distribution system to bring recycled water to the Soledad Parks and Schools. This enables the City to replace up to 165 acre-feet (approximately 54 million gallons) per year!

20 YEARS IN THE MAKING…

• 2005 – City Council approved the Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP), establishing a strategy to preserve groundwater and pursue recycled water as a long-term resource.
• 2006 – Adopted the Long-Term Wastewater Management Plan (LTWMP), outlining improvements to meet General Plan buildout, including wastewater treatment upgrades to Title 22 standards for recycled water use. Approved engineering contract with Black & Veatch, leading to the creation of Recycled Water Ordinance No. 645 (approved in 2007).
• 2008-2010 – Constructed a $60M Title 22 Water Reclamation Facility. While plans included a citywide recycled water pipeline, budget constraints limited installation to the railroad tracks.
• 2011 – Awarded $1.16M Prop 84 Grant from the Water Resources Board to design and construct the remaining pipeline connection from the WRF to Veterans Park.
• 2017 – Pipeline construction completed. Additional tasks were required to begin irrigation at Veteran’s Park: permitting, irrigation system conversions, signage, and purple pipe installation. All but permitting were completed by summer 2024.
• 2022 – City Council authorized staff to apply for the Urban Community Drought Relief (UCDR) Grant to fund the Soledad Recycled Water Conveyance Project, expanding recycled water use to City parks and schools.
• 2023 – City awarded $16.66M UCDR Grant from the California Department of Water Resources to implement citywide recycled water distribution.