The Water Authority launched a $66 million project to upgrade the historic First Aqueduct in January 2024. The Southern First Aqueduct Facilities Improvement Project is expected to span three years, retrofitting 99 structures connected to two major pipelines built in the 1940s and 1950s. The project aims to reduce long-term maintenance costs and prevent urgent repairs and will cover 21 miles in areas including Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Poway and parts of unincorporated San Diego County. The work reinforces the infrastructure needed to transport up to 120 million gallons of water per day.

Construction began in December 2023 on a new Helix 9 Flow Control Facility project that will replace the existing Helix 1 Flow Control Facility by demolishing the existing facility and constructing a new facility building, pipelines, and associated equipment. The new facility will have improved access and safety measures and ensure the delivery of untreated water from the La Mesa-Sweetwater Extension Pipeline to Helix Water District. It will also be the first new flow control facility equipped with a solar/battery energy system to provide backup power in the event of power outages.

This project commenced in fall 2024 and includes the rehabilitation and replacement of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe to ensure reliability of the aqueduct system. It will reline approximately 9,000 feet of Pipeline 5, an existing 96-inch diameter prestressed concrete cylinder pipe. Once completed, approximately 50 miles, or 62 percent, of the Water Authority’s prestressed concrete cylinder pipe will have been relined.

In FY24, work began on the design for replacing 1,350 feet of Pipelines 3, 4 and 5, as sections of the aqueduct around Moosa Canyon are within a high-risk seismic zone and areas prone to streambed erosion. The project will help ensure the aqueduct can continue to operate reliably for decades to come and is part of the Water Authority’s long-term asset management strategy.

In FY24, the Water Authority negotiated a Wholesale Market Access Tarif with Clean Energy Alliance, set to take effect in January 2025, aimed at serving the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. This agreement will allow the Water Authority to access wholesale market power at a lower cost while increasing the proportion of renewable energy used. It also incorporates the Water Authority’s federal hydroelectric power allocation from Hoover Dam and generation from the 4.5-megawatt Rancho Peñasquitos Pressure Control and Hydroelectric Facility. The Clean Energy Alliance, one of two Community Choice Aggregators in San Diego County, is a publicly owned entity that procures and sells electricity for local residents and businesses within its jurisdiction.

The Water Authority reached a significant technology frontier with the adoption of the latest computerized modelling techniques to help assess Prestressed Concrete Cylinder Pipe (PCCP) and prevent catastrophic damage from pipeline failure. A risk-assessment model was developed for PCCP within the Water Authority’s service area, and in FY24, a comprehensive interactive dashboard was developed in-house to identify geographic areas of risk in PCCP pipelines. This comprehensive approach to failure prediction complements one of the legacy features of the Asset Management Program, which has gathered data for 24 hours per day for the past 18 years. The focus of the program continues to be the identification of rehabilitation projects. Investment in the latest condition assessment and leak-detection technologies continues. In FY24, the asset management team completed the largest comprehensive condition assessment ever performed by the organization, assessing more than 15 miles of Pipeline 2, which was determined to be in excellent shape for the age of the pipeline (72 years). The team also trialed a new non-invasive, non-destructive technology known as vibro-acoustic analysis. This was performed on more than four miles of the Tri-Agencies pipeline. Work to validate the findings of this new technology will progress into fiscal year 2025.

An August 2022 public opinion survey conducted by the Water Authority confirmed that the region’s residents actively conserve water. Approximately 88% of respondents acknowledged their civic duty to use water efficiently, and 66% believe they can further contribute to conservation efforts.

The survey, which included economically disadvantaged communities, explored issues like the cost of water and trust in local water agencies. It showed a relatively low understanding of how much residents pay for a gallon of tap water, although awareness of the true cost of water has improved over the past three years. Overall, survey responses showed that residents trust local water agencies to provide long-term water supply reliability.

In June 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded the Water Authority $19.4 million for permanent upgrades to the seawater intake at the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Funds will be used to modify the initial intake and discharge operations, along with construction of a new screening structure to protect sea life. The project will provide for environmental enhancements and continue to reduce the region’s demand for imported water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay-Delta and the Colorado River. In total, the Department of the Interior announced $142 million in grants for large-scale projects such as the Carlsbad desalination plant, a local, drought-proof water source that complies with some of the strictest environmental protections in the world.