The Santa Monica City Council approved $1.6 million extension of its run-off water collection and distribution system Tuesday.
The newest phase of the system will expand an existing network of pipelines carrying recycled water to the Water Gardens Development at 26th Street, the Woodlawn Cemetery at 17th Street and to Delaware Avenue.
A new line also will be constructed to serve the future Public Safety Building, which is currently under construction behind City Hall, and the proposed Rand Corp. building on Main Street.
The Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility located on Colorado Boulevard was built to collect and treat water from storm drains throughout the city and from the Santa Monica Pier.
When water washes over residential yards and city streets it picks up contaminants and carries those particles into the aquifer system and eventually into the Santa Monica Bay.
The Surfrider Foundation recently named the bay as one of the 10 most polluted stretches of the state’s coast.
In Santa Monica, the runoff water is rerouted to the water collection facility where it is treated and then reused for irrigating the Santa Monica Freeway’s landscaping, the city’s parks and some cemetery landscaping.
The city has recently added water pumps and new lines to carry the recycled water from Colorado Boulevard to the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and 17th Street.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 14, 2002. Read the original PDF.