Date: 2008-06-17
Speaker: LORETTA SANCHEZ (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Mr. Speaker. I am pleased today the House of Representatives is considering House Resolution 1199. which honors the 75th anniversary of the Orange County Water District. As a sponsor of this legislation. I would like to thank the Committee on Natural Resources. especially the gentleman from West Virginia. Chairman RAHALL. for his assistance in bringing this resolution to the floor. and my good friend from Guam for managing this resolution. I also would like to thank the rest of my colleagues from Orange County. all of whom are original cosponsors of this resolution. You see. this Water District. the Orange County Water District. began its operations in 1933 when then California Governor James Rolph. Jr. signed it into existence on June 14. At that time. the Water District covered more than 163.000 acres and was intended to serve about 60.000 people primarily in agriculture. That is the beginning of Orange County. But today. the Orange County Water District covers well over 200.000 acres. and it serves a population of more than 2.3 million people. As it has grown. the Water District has stayed on top of its game at the forefront of efforts with respect to water supply and the efficient distribution of that through Orange County. And the best example of that. of course. is what we just opened in January of this year. and that is our groundwater replenishment system. The replenishment system is on the cutting edge of water reuse technology. It will purify 70 million gallons of water a day to provide clean drinking water for more than 100.000 Orange County families. This system is the premier groundwater replenishment project in the world. And Orange County is often visited by other people from our country and from dignitaries from around the world. scientists from around the world. engineers from around the world. who want to come and see what we are doing. And yes. basically what were doing is that we dispose of the water by flushing the toilet. send it into a tertiary process. clean it purer than the water you would find in the ground. We put it into the ground. and about 3 or 4 years later the same water is being used through your house once again. This makes it selfcontained. It means that in a desert like southern California. we are not importing water for our usage. were actually using our own water over and over. and this is the wave of the future. As I said. so many from around the world. from Israel and from other places. are coming to take a look at what we have done. And even just recently. the Mayor of Los Angeles said he would like to try to make a system like that work in the County of Los Angeles. So the Orange County Water Districts vision and initiative in. establishing this system is the reason that it received the 2008 Clair A. Hill Award from the Association of California Water Agencies. and it was also named the Public Water Agency of the Year in Throughout its 75year history. the Orange County Water District has proven that it is a leader in identifying and creating new and existing options to meet the water needs of California. of our Nation. and of the world. Along with the entire county delegation. I hope that all of my colleagues will vote for this resolution today.