Pure Water Project Las Virgenes – Triunfo Receives $42.5 Million from Metropolitan Water District

The Board of Directors of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD, Metropolitan) unanimously authorized a Local Resources Program (LRP)agreement for the Las Virgenes – Triunfo Joint Powers Authority’s (JPA) Pure Water Project. The agreement will provide $42.5 million towards the operation of the Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF), set to bring a local supply of water to the region beginning in 2028.

“This funding is absolutely crucial to the success of the Pure Water Project,” said JPA Board President Jay Lewitt. “This agreement is the latest installment in a long history of support from Metropolitan, and the JPA is grateful for their continued investment in improving water supply management for our region. The Pure Water Project will be essential to improving the JPA’s resilience to climate variability, drought, and other factors challenging our water supply.”

Metropolitan created the LRP to provide financial incentives to projects developed by local and member agencies, including water recycling, groundwater recovery, and seawater desalination. The agreement will allow MWD to pay the JPA for water produced from the fullscale AWPF, providing long-term cost saving benefits to rate payers.

The Pure Water Project is the JPA’s latest effort to improve sustainability and reliability by creating a new, local source of water that will account for up to 30% of the region’s water supply. 

“We are grateful to MWD for choosing this project by providing long-term financial assistance that ensures our region is more equipped to handle disruptions to water supply,” said JPA Administering Agent David W. Pedersen. “We are all connected by this precious resource and creating a local supply of water provides us assurances that customers will always have clean, safe, and affordable water flowing from their tap.”

More information about the Pure Water Project can be found by visiting OurPureH2O.com

Another Successful Spring Planting with LVUSD

 For a third year in a row, LVMWD has visited our local elementary schools and provided a succulent planting lesson to all 2nd-grade students at LVUSD. This interactive lesson is part of our public outreach and conservation efforts, teaching students the art of succulent planting where they decorate a pot and plant a succulent to take home and care for.

Beginning with an introduction to water as a finite resource that we have the responsibility to use wisely, the students are given a demonstration on how to plant their succulents then are guided through their own planting project.

Though the Earth's surface is 71% water, only about 3% of it is available for human consumption. Surprisingly, a majority of that freshwater is used for outside irrigation to maintain our lawns and thirsty plants that require a lot of water. Students are encouraged to conserve that fresh water for higher uses, like drinking, washing hands, and brushing their teeth. The purpose of the succulent planting activity is to demonstrate an easy replacement for thirsty outdoor landscapes that don’t require a lot of water because they are native or adapted to California's dry, drought-prone environments.

Learning about water conservation practices can start at any age, and planting succulents provides these 2ndgrade students with an excellent example of how simple it can be to replace traditional lawns and plants with drought-tolerant and California native plants in your outdoor landscapes. A practice that is so easy, you can get the whole family involved!

The End of the Era

For thirty-one years, Glen Peterson has worked tirelessly on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) Board of Directors representing LVMWD and our customers. On May 21, 2024 the LVMWD Board of Directors presented Peterson with a proclamation honoring his contributions to the District and our communities upon his retirement from the Board.

Through his 31 years at MWD, Peterson was integral to a number of important efforts such as the construction of Diamond Valley Lake, negotiation of the Quantification Settlement Agreement for MWD on the Colorado River, and addressing the challenges faced by Member Agencies serving MWD’s State Water Project-
dependent areas. These efforts helped keep water supplies flowing to both LVMWD and the MWD service area at large.

Peterson was also a mentor to the next generation of water leaders. Reflecting on Peterson's impact, Board President Jay Lewitt commented "I met Glen Peterson when I ran for the LVMWD Board in 2014. Glen taught me about our district and about California water issues. When I got elected, Glen introduced me to his vast network and the next thing I knew I was friends with many water leaders in California. Our community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Glen for his service. I know I do."

LVMWD Staffs the Future of Water

LVMWD needs professionals from vastly different career paths working together to fulfill our mission of delivering reliable and high quality water and wastewater services in a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive way. Our organization values innovation and sustainable solutions to our operational challenges across all departments.

LVMWD has career options in a variety of fields including water operations, maintenance, engineering, customer service, finance, information systems, administration, and more. The District offers a comprehensive and competitive benefits package, and when you join LVMWD, some of the benefits you can enjoy include:

•  Medical, dental, & vision insurance
•  Life & short/long term disability
• Retirement benefits Education and professional development reimbursement
• Employee wellness benefits

Be Prepared for Disaster - Establish Emergency Water Supplies 

 Whether it is historic storms or the specter of the next big earthquake, it is always important to keep in mind the importance of being prepared when disasters strike. Water is essential for you and your family. Find more resources on being prepared for a disaster by scanning the QR code or visiting LVMWD.com/Prepared

 Water Quality Report Available Now!

Each year, LVMWD collects over 1,200 samples fromour distribution system and conducts more than 11,000tests on those samples. The results, along with thosefrom the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California(MWD) on the treated source water imported byLVMWD, are compiled into our annual Consumer ConfidenceReport/Water Quality Report (CCR/WQR).

This report is distributed to customers and residents inour service area by July 1st each year, in accordancewith federal and state regulations.

The CCR/WQR is an annual report detailing the qualityand safety of the water we deliver to our customers andprovides information on various contaminants and their regulatory levels. This transparency assures customers of their water's quality. These tests are conducted in theDistrict’s state-certified lab at the Tapia Water Reclamation Facility by highly trained and certified staff.

The report also includes testing data from MWD on thewater from the Jensen Treatment Plant, further ensuringtransparency and building trust in our products andservices within our communities.

This year the report once again showed that LVMWDwater met or exceeded all federal and state drinkingwater regulations. These regulations, set by the Environmental Protection Agency and California Division ofDrinking Water, ensure the water we serve is safe andclean. Our water is as clean, and often cleaner andsafer, than bottled water, which can contain microplasticsand plastic-related chemicals. Additionally, the CCR/WQR offers valuable information on LVMWD, lead andcopper testing, and emerging contaminants such asPFAS/PFOA.

Our mission is to provide high-quality water service in acost-effective and environmentally sensitive manner. Tobe more cost-effective, we transitioned to digital distribution of the report in 2019, reducing costs and improving accessibility. This year we continue to improve accessibilityfor visually impaired individuals who use adaptive screen readers with our online version of the report.

“We are always looking for ways to make District operationsmore effective, efficient, and accessible for all our customers while ensuring our customers have the important information on how the water we serve is monitored, tested and delivered in a way that ensures public health” stated Public Affairs and CommunicationsManager Mike McNutt.