The Soquel Creek Water District board will use $3.2 million to purchase nearly 2 acres of Live Oak light industrial property for a water recycling plant project.
The site will be the future home of an advanced purification water plant and the plan is known as the Pure Water Soquel project, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
According to district General Manager Ron Duncan, the Live Oak phase of Pure Water Soquel is in the design process and construction will not begin for another year.
The Pure Water Soquel Project will use secondary treated effluent from the city of Santa Cruz Water Treatment Plant. The plan is to build a small plant on the city’s treatment plant property, Soquel Creek, and then treat the water supply to the tertiary level before piping it to the Chanticleer site’s advanced treatment facility.
From Live Oak, the purified water will be sent on to underground injection wells in the Soquel Creek Water District’s service area, reported the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
This plan aims to help replenish the Midcounty Groundwater Basin aquifers and prevent seawater intrusion into the region’s underground drinking supply.
The property purchase is taking place outside the district’s service boundaries, however.
A recent lawsuit against Soquel Creek Water District and its Pure Water Soquel project was dismissed, reported the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
The Santa Cruz County Superior Court suit was brought in by Aptos resident Becky Steinbruner. The suit took issue with the water district’s Dec. 18 approval of an environmental impact report for the planned wastewater recycling plant.
Steinbruner filed 10 separate motions in the case.
A judge weighing in on the citizen lawsuit determined the district’s environmental impact report on the project was thorough and adequate, however, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
