A “lake” has formed in south Orange County, with migrating birds resting in the cool water, deer and even the occasional mountain lion spotted along its shore.
“It really is a pretty setting,” said Donald Bunts, general manager of the Santa Margarita Water District. “The wildlife is totally enjoying it.”
Bunts and his folks are celebrating its fullness – it has for the first time reached 90% capacity – because the body of water is actually a reservoir of supply that will help irrigate surrounding communities without tapping into the drinking water the district has to purchase to meet needs.
“Any drop we are able to use from (the Trampas Canyon Reservoir) lets us save a drop of imported drinking water,” Bunts said. “It is an absolute one-for-one benefit.”
The water is treated wastewater, turning what would have been flushed away during the winter months into a resource for watering street medians, golf courses and other community assets during the hot summer months.
And all that treated water captured in the Trampas reservoir didn’t go into the ocean, Bunts added.
The last two wet winters helped top off the reservoir sooner than expected because irrigation went way down, Bunts said, but when it gets drained down to meet summer landscaping needs, that’s going to be OK because that has always been the intention.
The reservoir was completed in the summer of 2020 and as of this week is holding about 1.45 billion gallons of water, district officials said. Its total capacity is about 1.6 billion, which they point out “could fill the Rose Bowl approximately 20 times over.”
The water district serves the cities of Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Juan Capistrano, as well as Coto de Caza, Las Flores, Ladera Ranch and other southeastern canyon communities.
“Trampas Canyon Reservoir is operating just as we envisioned,” the water district’s board president, Saundra Jacobs, said in a statement. “Think of it as a savings account — not…
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