Crews building San Diego’s Pure Water sewage recycling system continue to pass major milestones, including finishing key stretches of pipeline across the city, tunneling work under Interstate 805 and breaking ground on treatment plants.
But they’ve also been faced with some major hurdles and setbacks, including delays caused by lingering supply chain issues and a two-year-old flooding problem on Morena Boulevard that still hasn’t been fully solved.
City officials say they’ve softened the impact of the flooding problem by revamping how the system will work short term. But continuing delays could jeopardize a December 2027 deadline to be fully operational.
The city is also failing to meet goals for hiring city residents to work on Pure Water, the largest infrastructure project in San Diego history. City residents have made up 23 percent of the workforce, while the goal is 35 percent.
In addition, city officials continue to struggle in negotiations with San Diego Gas & Electric to get utilities and gas lines moved to make way for Pure Water pipes.
City officials say design modifications they’ve agreed to make have reduced SDG&E’s overall cost estimate for its relocations from $100 million to $44 million. But much of the work still hasn’t been completed.
While the final costs could increase based on delays created by the Morena flooding problem, city officials say overall expenditures for the first phase of Pure Water appear to be on track.
The project is roughly 40 percent complete and the city has spent $427 million of an estimated $1.1 billion total price tag. The city has spent $42 million of a $114 million fund established to cover cost overruns.
City Councilmembers say the delays and problems are disappointing, but they are also praising city water and sewer officials for being transparent, inventive and resourceful in the face of adversity.
“Even though there have been some bumps, you’ve figured out how to navigate them and work around them and you’ve been very candid about how you’re doing it,” Councilmember Joe LaCava told staffers last month.
City officials also continue to stress the benefits of Pure Water, which aims to boost local water independence in the face of more severe droughts caused by climate change.
Pure Water is projected to produce half the city’s drinking water once the second phase of the project is completed, sometime between 2035 and 2040.
Phase one alone includes pump stations, reclamation plants, a purification plant in western Miramar, nine large tunnels and 30 miles of pipeline through Clairemont, Bay Park, University City, Miramar and Scripps Ranch.
Councilmember Marni von Wilpert said a city project of unprecedented size and complexity is inevitably going to face problems.
“This is the biggest infrastructure project we’ve ever embarked on, so of course we’re going to have challenges,” she said.
City officials have also made progress recently on phase two of Pure Water, which will recycle sewage at a large purification plant in Mission Valley and store the purified water in either Lake Murray or San Vicente Reservoir.
Crews recently broke ground on a “demonstration” plant on Point Loma where the city must prove its plans for phase two are feasible. The city also submitted plans for phase two to the state.
The next step is hiring a consultant to flesh out many details for phase two, particularly where to store the water.
Using Lake Murray, which is near La Mesa, would eliminate the need to spend hundreds of millions building many miles of pipeline to San Vicente, which is much farther away, near Lakeside.
But city officials say much of those savings would be eaten up by the need to treat the water more thoroughly because Lake Murray is much smaller than San Vicente Reservoir, requiring a more rigorous type of purification.
Sewage purification systems in other places often store the purified water underground. But San Diego’s unusual topography makes that essentially impossible, forcing the city into the more expensive option of piping the purified water to reservoirs.
Pure Water will recycle treated sewage into potable water that is suitable for drinking. Previous city efforts have focused on recycling sewage into water that is suitable for irrigation, but not drinking.
The largest hurdle the city faces in phase one of Pure Water is the flooding problem at a large sewage-pump station on Morena Boulevard. City officials agreed one year ago to spend $20 million building a large dam-like structure around the area being flooded, but that structure is not yet finished.
Construction of the pump station can’t continue until the dam is complete, jeopardizing the entire system because its 10 components need to work together like a well choreographed ballet.
To get at least some sewage recycling going as quickly as possible, city officials have revamped how the system will work short term by cutting the Morena pump station out of the process.
Instead of previous plans to recycle 30 million gallons per day, the system will start with 7.5 million gallons per day and slowly ramp up to 10 million gallons and then 12 million gallons.
Once the Morena pump station is built and operational, phase one of Pure Water will reach the goal of 30 million gallons per day.
Another problem has been supply chain issues that started during the pandemic. City officials say those challenges have been resolved for most construction materials, but that they continue to linger for electronics.
Pipeline construction has been mostly smooth, but city officials are praising affected residents for their understanding and cooperation.
“We know we’re having a lot of impacts and we really appreciate everyone’s patience,” said Amy Dorman, the city’s assistant director of public utilities.
More than 4,100 feet of pipeline has been installed along Clairemont Drive, 3 miles has been installed on Genesee Avenue and more than 3.3 miles has been installed in Scripps Ranch.
The Genesee pipeline has been particularly challenging because it includes a tunnel under I-805 and the crossing of La Jolla Village Drive, which was an around-the-clock operation that crews finished in 11 days — three less days than expected.
Scheduled road closures can be tracked at purewatersd.org, which has an interactive map.
