The City of Oceanside is being awarded $1.06 million for its planned Well Expansion and Brine Minimization Project from the Federal Bureau of Reclamation under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act Desalination Program. The City had also received $2.623 million from the Bureau of Reclamation in 2018 and combined with this latest award, the total grant funding for this project totals $3.683 million. The project, anticipated to yield an additional 450 acre-feet of local water supplies per year, received one of the highest ratings among the applications submitted to the Federal Bureau of Reclamation.
Included in the City’s WaterSMART Desalination Construction Projects, the Well Expansion and Brine Minimization Project consists of additional groundwater extraction wells and brine minimization technology to increase locally-sourced water and reduce the volume of saltwater, discharged into the Pacific Ocean.
The project is one of many currently under development from the City of Oceanside that will optimize the city’s resources and local water supplies to safeguard against drought and increasingly dry conditions, while also reducing its dependence on imported water from the environmentally sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the Colorado River.
“The Well Expansion and Brine Minimization Project is one example of how Oceanside is not just focused on today, but strategically plans for the future,” said Cari Dale, Water Utilities Director, City of Oceanside. “In the past few years, our dedicated team has secured nearly $21 million in grant funding and $69 million in low interest loans to help pay for our water projects, allow us to have more local control of our water supply and be financially competitive with imported and desalinated water rates.”
Currently, the Well Expansion and Brine Minimization Project is in final design with construction anticipated to start in summer 2022. Total project costs – including planning, permitting and construction – are $19.9 million. The grant provided by the Bureau of Reclamation provides for an estimated 18.5% cost share for project construction as a desalination project under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act.
