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Pipeline project will provide blended reclaimed & irrigation water for Coachella Valley golf courses; will reduce pumping to preserve drinking water

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 23, 2008 at 6:02 am

From MyDesert.com:

Wondering what all the digging’s been about in the Whitewater River and Coachella Valley Stormwater channels? It’s the first phase of the Coachella Valley Water District’s Mid-Valley Pipeline Project, which is 50 percent complete and on schedule to start delivering irrigation water to some valley golf courses by mid-July, district officials said.

The new delivery system will send Colorado River water - via the Coachella Canal - to mid-valley golf courses to reduce the amount of groundwater they use, thus saving drinking water, said Steve Robbins, the district’s general manager.

The valley’s drinking water comes from a vast underground aquifer that is now in overdraft - meaning more water is being pumped out than is being replaced. “We hope the first phase will reduce pumping by about 8,000 acre-feet a year,” Robbins said.

The project is designed to supply a blend of irrigation water & recycled water to some of the over 50 golf courses in the Coachella Valley:

The pipeline will eventually carry irrigation water from the canal to up to 50 golf courses in Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells, Robbins said. Also, a new receiving reservoir at the recycling plant will have the capacity to hold 65 acre-feet of blended canal and recycled water, which will in turn be used initially to serve 12 golf courses.

In the past, the district had been unable to supply golf courses with all the recycled water they needed for irrigation, especially in the summer. When the temperatures head north, so do the snowbirds, which means fewer toilets are flushing across the valley. Fewer toilet flushes mean less water to treat at the recycling plant, said district spokeswoman Heather Engel.

When there’s not enough recycled water available, golf courses have to use groundwater - the valley’s drinking water - for irrigation, she said. By blending canal water with water produced at the recycling plant, the district will have a much larger supply of irrigation water available, she said.