Vivienne Tsang is an IRWD customer who really gets it. She knows water is too precious to use just once—which is why recycled water is important.

Vivienne, from Jennifer Condon’s third-grade class at Canyon View Elementary, is a winner of the 2021 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Water Awareness Poster Contest. Her artwork, which will appear in the agency’s 2022 calendar, concisely illustrates how IRWD teams up with natural microorganisms to clean up the water that goes down your drains, then pumps it through purple pipes for irrigation and other cool uses.

Kids, visit IRWD.com/postercontest to enter this year’s contest. And click IRWD.com/recycled-water to learn all about recycling. Congratulations, Vivienne!

Recycled water keeps our community green and beautiful, even during periods of drought. It makes up 27% of IRWD’s water supply and is used to irrigate 85% of all common areas throughout our service area. Every gallon of recycled water we use saves a gallon of drinking water. And that adds up to 28 million gallons a day.

But even with four local reservoirs to hold it, we need more capacity to store all the water we recycle.

Managing recycled water is a balancing act: During cool, wet winter months, the community does a lot less watering; the reservoirs fill up, and we run out of room to store recycled water. Then in the summer, when irrigation demands ramp up, our recycled reservoirs are depleted, and we need to buy expensive water from Northern California or out of state to make up the difference.

To make sure we can make the most of all the recycled water we produce, IRWD plans to expand its Syphon Reservoir in Irvine. The Syphon Reservoir Improvement Project will increase capacity ninefold, from 188 million gallons to 1.6 billion gallons.

It’s an investment in the future that will let us store significantly more recycled water in winter to keep our community green and self-sufficient all year-round—and long into the future.

Visit SyphonReservoirProject.com for more information.

PUBLIC HEARINGS NOTICE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jan. 24 public hearings on IRWD's proposed rate changes and the redistricting of Board division boundaries will be conducted virtually via Webex as well as in person. Customers or property owners may attend and comment in either format. The Webex link will be posted on the Board Meetings calendar.                                                                                                                                      

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

IRVINE RANCH WATER DISTRICT

PUBLIC HEARING ON REDISTRICTING OF THE IRVINE RANCH WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION BOUNDARIES AND DIVISION MAP(S). 

NOTICE is hereby given that the IRVINE RANCH WATER DISTRICT (IRWD) will hold a public hearing on the composition of divisions and proposed map(s) in accordance with Elections Code Section 22001. The purpose of the hearing will be to invite and solicit public comment on the draft division maps which are being published by the District prior to the IRWD Board of Directors considering adoption of a new division map.

The draft division maps to be discussed at the hearing will be published and made available at https://www.irwd.com/about-us/district-election-process. 

Election Code Section 22000 requires IRWD to adjust division boundaries after each federal decennial census, and using that census as a basis, adjust the boundaries of its Board of Director divisions so that the divisions are, as far as practicable, equal in population and in compliance with Section 10301 of Title 52 of the United States Code. Additional information on IRWD’s redistricting process and/or the public hearing may be obtained by contacting Leslie Bonkowski, District Secretary at 949-453-5312 or on the IRWD Web site located at https://www.irwd.com/about-us/district-election-process. 

The Board of Directors of IRWD will hold the hearings on the following Monday evenings at 5 p.m. or as soon after 5 p.m. as is reasonably practicable, in the Board Room of the offices of IRWD located at 15600 Sand Canyon Avenue, Irvine. Dates of the public hearings and potential hearings, if needed, are as follows: 

Scheduled Public Hearings:
January 24, 2022
February 7, 2022

Potential Public Hearing If Needed:
February 28, 2022

Dated:  January 11, 2022

                                                                        Leslie Bonkowski, District Secretary,

IRVINE RANCH WATER DISTRICT

and the Board of Directors thereof

Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) and Rosedale Rio Bravo Water Storage District (Rosedale) own and operate water storage and water banking facilities in Kern County.  IRWD’s water banking facilities capture water during wet times that would otherwise be lost and store the water for use during drought and other water shortages.  The facilities provide an emergency water supply for IRWD.

Due to the historic use of soil fumigants containing 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP, soil and groundwater in Kern County have been contaminated with the human-made chemical.  Over time the TCP has migrated and contaminated some of IRWD’s and Rosedale’s water banking facilities.  While IRWD continues to meet all drinking water standards and only serves safe drinking water to its customers, this contamination has harmed the water banks owned and operated by IRWD and Rosedale, and jeopardizes IRWD’s emergency water supplies.

While the two public agencies are working to mitigate, remediate and clean up the contamination, they have decided that further action must be taken to hold the chemical companies that made TCP responsible for the damage they have caused.  To protect ratepayers and preserve the use of their groundwater storage and water banking facilities, IRWD and Rosedale recently sued The Dow Chemical Company and Shell Oil Company, who manufactured the soil fumigants that contained TCP, as well as Occidental Chemical Corporation, Wilbur-Ellis Company LCC, J.R. Simplot Company, Puregro Company, Nutrien Ag Solutions Inc., and Southern Valley Chemical Company, who were distributors of those fumigants in Kern County.  The lawsuit seeks to recover damages from these companies to cover the costs associated with IRWD’s and Rosedale’s mitigation and clean-up of the TCP contamination.

What is 1,2,3-trichloropropane?

1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP, is a highly toxic substance, human-made chemical compound.  From the 1940s to the 1980s, TCP was an unnecessary impurity in certain soil fumigants used to control microscopic worms that infest plant roots.

TCP migrates easily through soil and groundwater, and resists natural degradation.  For this reason, it has contaminated groundwater in some areas of California, including in Kern County.  It is difficult and costly to remove from groundwater. 

Is IRWD drinking water safe?

IRWD is confident that the drinking water we provide to homes, businesses and schools is safe and meets all quality standards set by both the state and federal government. IRWD water quality experts continuously monitor water supply and conduct hundreds of laboratory tests each year on water taken from sample points throughout the IRWD service area.

What is the importance of IRWD’s water bank?

IRWD’s Kern County water storage and banking facilities serve as an emergency water supply for the District. The goal of IRWD’s water banking program is to provide enough water to meet approximately 15% of IRWD customers’ needs during a severe drought or other water shortage. The water bank is an important part of IRWD’s commitment to always provide a clean, safe, reliable water supply to its customers.