Irvine Ranch Water District is 60 years old — and we all have a lot to celebrate!

IRWD’s long history of creative leadership and hallmark programs has ushered in a legacy of value for our customers, including low, stable rates, a diverse and highly reliable water supply and highly rated customer service.

Irvine Ranch Water District was formed on Jan. 23, 1961, under the provisions of the California Water District Act within the California Water Code, in response to the increasing water needs of our region. IRWD initially served mostly agricultural customers. We were created to secure a water supply from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for home use and irrigation. The District’s boundaries encompassed 60 square miles, roughly from the Santa Ana Freeway to the San Joaquin Hills. Today, IRWD Today, IRWD provides drinking water, sewage collection and recycled water to more than 425,000 residential customers and a daytime population of more than 600,000, in an area spanning 181 square miles from the foothills to coastal Orange County. Our customers live in Irvine, parts of Lake Forest, Newport Beach, Orange and Tustin, plus unincorporated areas.

Please join us throughout 2021 as we travel back through time and commemorate the people and unique programs that make IRWD what it is today. Watch this space on IRWD.com/liquid-news, and read your monthly Pipelines newsletter, delivered by mail or email with your water bill.

And thank YOU for helping make this an efficient, water-smart community.

Photo: A view of the Michelson Water Recycling Plant construction in the 1960s.

Many of the native plants that rim the shoreline of the ponds at the San Joaquin Marsh do more than clean the water and provide habitat for the creatures that live there.

To members of the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians – Kizh Nation, these plants represent gifts from Mother Earth with medicinal properties that can be healing and therapeutic.

At various times of the year, when Irvine Ranch Water District trims back the marsh foliage to control overgrowth, tribal members will come in to collect the clippings for use in preparing their traditional remedies.

“These plants provide medicinal compounds our tribe has traditionally used for centuries and we still use today,” said Tribal Biologist Matthew Teutimez.

Coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) can be used to treat poison oak, the entire Asteraceae (sunflower) family of plants contain anti-inflammatory elements, and mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana) — a member of that family — is used by our tribe in steam treatments to help with respiratory ailments and cleansing of the lungs, he said.

“Throughout time, our native plants have had to create their own defenses to protect against molds, fungi, bacteria, viruses and other microbial threats,” Teutimez said. “These river plants are very good uptakers of nutrients, using a natural process that results in a diversity of compounds that made them very good for medicine.”

Marsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata), with its purple flowers, is a good example with this capacity, he added. “That’s why it also can be used as a great uptaker of toxins from urban runoff, which makes it particularly effective in removing contaminants from waters and soils.”

Tribe members don’t harvest or forage for native plants on their own. They don’t want to remove or disturb the native flora in the wild. But they do collect the trimmings when organizations are conducting routine trimming of native overgrowth from the sides of roads and trails.

Teutimez involves tribal youth in the collection process, under a tribal program he termed “Mother’s Medicine” — with the tagline of creating traditional therapy for tribal elders by tribal youth.

The tribe collects clippings at the marsh and other locations at various times of the year — preferring periods after heavy rains to collect new green growth. They were recently in Anaheim Hills, collecting cuttings of coastal sage trimmed from the trails.

IRWD Natural Resources Manager Ian Swift said the tribe’s collection of clippings from marsh maintenance makes good use of material that otherwise would be composted.

“It takes things full-circle, in terms of blending the past with the present, and it has no impact on the integrity of the marsh and wildlife sanctuary,” Swift said.

The Gabrieleño tribe is indigenous to the Los Angeles basin, and one of its permanent villages containing many homesites was located next to the marsh, where UC Irvine now stands. 

They were a very influential tribe, according to Teutimez, due to their access to the ocean and to an abundance of natural resources such as oil (asphaltum), which could be used to waterproof ocean-faring boats and create waterproof bottles made of grasses. Gabrieleño ancestors sustained a vibrant culture here in Southern California for thousands of years because of the native plants and animals that were gifted to this land for the subsistence of its people.

IRWD Natural Resources Manager Ian Swift provides instructions prior to the collection.

The headline 25 years ago was terrifying: A hissing “marsh monster” — lurching, biting, and finally ripping through a makeshift trap with its bear-like 2 ½-inch claws — was discovered at IRWD’s San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary.

Biologists at the time told the Irvine World News it was a snapping turtle, probably between 10 and 50 years old. The bad-tempered beast was captured and transported to a rescue organization for safe keeping.

Snapping turtles are illegal to own in California, but many people get them anyway when they are small, and release them into the “wilds” of suburbia once they get big — and aggressive.

But it’s not just turtles. A whole host of creatures are living at the marsh. They either found their own way or were brought there by a neighbor.

Wetlands Scientist Mo Wise said she once saw a goldfish swimming in one of the ponds. It was the size of a baseball.

“The marsh is chock full of surprises,” she said.

Other wild and/or non-native animals found there include rabbits, coyotes, raccoons, crayfish, woodrats, exotic birds, many varieties of turtles (including the snapping variety), and fish.

“There are 15 species of fish at the marsh,” said Natural Resources Manager Ian Swift. “None of them is native.”

Apart from the goldfish, Swift and Wise have spotted catfish, bass, red shiners and other species that were either planted there or found their way from upstream.

The fish provide food for the birds at the marsh, as well as the turtles. Despite most of these species being invasive, a healthy balance of life is going on, Swift said.

“There’s this huge food chain that exists at the marsh that wouldn’t be there naturally,” he said. “So far, there’s an equilibrium, where it doesn’t look like there are too many impacts.”

Some of these species are brought in by humans: pet fish and turtles that have outgrown their homes, stray rodents, even a few kittens.

Releasing these orphaned pets and pests is not good — for the animals or the marsh.

Rodents brought in might have ingested poison, which can harm the native birds when eaten as prey. Rabbits nibble away at the native grasses before they can take root. And the turtle population — while currently in balance — can easily get out of hand.

IRWD monitors and records the animals spotted at the marsh for research. It’s another way to keep track of the ecological balance of the wildlife sanctuary, and it helps to identify new changes and trends.

Swift described his occasional encounters with a bobcat mother and her cubs some years ago — walking down the paths between the various ponds. They are still seen from time to time throughout the natural areas of Irvine, but they haven’t visited the marsh since 2015.

“I miss seeing them,” he said, “but at least we know they’re OK.”

If you find yourself with an unwanted pet or animal, please don’t release it at the marsh. Contact your local animal shelter to arrange for a safe surrender.

Irvine Ranch Water District has been recognized by water professionals and organizations around the nation as a Utility of the Future Today — a formal designation given to agencies that have demonstrated forward-thinking, innovative approaches to trends in the industry today.

This is IRWD’s first UoTF award, granted in recognition of the District’s recycled water programs and infrastructure. Judging for the award is done by members of a selection committee consisting of peer utility general managers and executives.

The District is a national leader in water reuse — with a history of achievements dating to 1963, when our Board of Directors implemented a vision to integrate water recycling into the design of the surrounding community. IRWD’s highly skilled staff using state-of-the-art technologies and processes mean IRWD’s recycled water consistently meets the California Water Resources Control Board’s stringent water quality criteria for water reuse.

Today, nearly all of the public and commercial irrigated landscape in our service area — including parks, medians, golf courses and community association property — is irrigated with recycled water. It is also used for toilet and urinal flushing in commercial buildings, for cooling towers, construction activities such as dust control, grading and compaction, and industrial processes such as concrete production and composting. IRWD delivers about 28 million gallons of recycled water daily to more than 6,200 metered customer connections.

“We are extremely proud to have received this honor,” General Manager Paul Cook said. “This is one of the highest distinctions in the industry, carrying the added significance of being judged by peers.”

This year’s award was announced at the Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference on Oct. 9.

The award is sponsored by the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Water Environment Federation, Water Research Foundation, and WateReuse, with support from the United States Environmental Protection Agency.