Padre Dam Municipal Water District has been awarded $4.5 million from a federal agency to use toward its water recycling efforts.

The money is part of more than $30 million in funding through the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation for seven projects in California that will provide clean water and promote both water and energy efficiency.

Funds are provided through the bureau’s Title XVI program, used for the planning, design and construction of water recycling and reuse projects in western states and Hawaii.

Title XVI funding since 1992 has been used to provide communities with new sources of clean water and promote water and energy efficiency. The program has been part of the federal Climate Action Plan since 2013.


Padre Dam will use the money to expand its Ray Stoyer Water Recycling Facility and begin construction of the East County Advanced Water Purification Program.

Allen Carlisle, CEO and general manager of Padre Dam, said the water purification program could produce an additional 4,000 acre-feet of new potable water each year, reducing East County’s dependence on imported water.

“Additionally, it reduces East County’s need to send our wastewater over 20 miles to the Point Loma Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Facility and decrease discharges to the ocean,” he said.

Grant funding this year for Padre Dam’s Advanced Water Purification Program has reached nearly $11 million, according to the district. The State Water Resources Control Board awarded Padre Dam $6 million as part of Proposition 84 earlier this year.


Padre Dam’s East County Advanced Water Purification Demonstration Facility, which opened in 2015, takes recycled water from the Ray Stoyer Water Reclamation Facility and treats it in four steps for safe drinking water use.

Padre Dam last year partnered with Helix Water District, the city of El Cajon and the county of San Diego to expand the water purification program for all of East County. At full scale, this project could produce up to 30 percent of potable water for East County, Carlisle said.

Padre Dam provides water, sewer, recycled water and recreation services to nearly 100,000 residents in Santee, El Cajon, Lakeside, Flinn Springs, Harbison Canyon, Blossom Valley, Alpine, Dehesa and Crest.

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com