The East County Advanced Water Purification Program (East County AWP) has made significant progress since breaking ground on construction nearly two years ago.

The Program will create a local, clean, safe and drought-proof drinking water supply using state-of-the-art technology to purify East San Diego County’s recycled water. It will produce up to 30 percent of East County’s drinking water supply once the Program goes online in 2026.

“Construction to build the East County AWP is well underway and the Program is poised to finish construction and deliver water to Lake Jennings by 2026 which will meet or exceed all federal and state drinking water standards,” said Mark Niemiec, director of the East County Advanced Water Purification Program. “The Program also received some great news last month. The State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water conditionally accepted the Program’s Title 22 Engineering Report which explains the project’s plan for safely treating recycled water and placing it into Lake Jennings to comply with state regulations.”

Project construction involves several elements including building the water treatment facilities and 30 miles of wastewater and purified water pipelines.

The heart of the Program is located just north of Santee Lakes. Here, the treatment facilities are being built and more than 60 percent of the concrete work is complete. More than 32,000 cubic yards of concrete has been poured for building slabs, process tanks and basins – enough concrete to fill more than nine Olympic-sized pools.

After the water is purified at the East County AWP Facility, the water will travel 10 miles to Lake Jennings taking approximately 2.3 hours to arrive at the lake and flowing at a rate of six feet per second. This purified water pipeline is more than 30 percent complete with work underway in Santee and Lakeside. Three miles of open cut installation of wastewater pipelines are also under construction and are nearly 60 percent complete.

The Program is partnering with the City of San Diego to create a 17-mile pipeline for regional brine and wastewater.

This pipeline is scheduled to begin construction in 2025, traveling on Mission Gorge Road, from the Highway 52/Mission Gorge Road on-ramp to near I-15 on Friars Road.

In addition to creating a local source of drinking water, the East County Advanced Water Purification Program will create its own power.

By harnessing the gas created while treating wastewater, the Program is expected to create three megawatts of clean energy each year which will reduce the facility’s fossil fuel needs, improve energy resiliency and cut costs.

This is anticipated to provide approximately 60 percent of the energy needs for operating the treatment facilities on site.