Construction began Monday to connect Santa Barbara’s water main to an upcoming pump station as the city prepares to reactivate its desalination plant.
For up to the next two weeks, crews will be out between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the 2100 block of Castillo St. between Los Olivos and Padre streets connecting the water main to the Padre Pump Station at 310 W. Padre St., city officials said.
During those times, crews will be utilizing the parking lane for the construction, which will be accompanied by sidewalk closures and no-parking signs. The roadway will be open, perhaps with the occasional delay when crews move their heavy equipment, and neighbors’ water service will not be affected, the city said.
The Padre Pump Station, located on the site of an old well on Santa Barbara City College‘s Schott campus, is also under construction, said Linda Sumansky, a principal civil engineer with the city.
The facility’s conversion is scheduled to be complete at the end of January, Sumansky said, and will become operational when the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant does — now expected to be in February or March.
Though the desalination plant will use the city’s existing distribution system to deliver water, the West Padre Street facility will provide the force needed to pump the desalinated water from sea level out to the further reaches of the city’s distribution area.
Testing of the desalination plant is expected to start before the end of the year, with water delivery projected to start between mid-February and late March.
The facility, located at 525 E. Yanonali St., is expected to produce 3 million gallons of water every day, accounting for about a third of the city’s potable water supply.
It will be a crucial component of Santa Barbara’s water portfolio as the state’s record drought continues to dry up local resources, including Lake Cachuma, which sat at 8-percent capacity as of Monday, according to the county Public Works Department.
Santa Barbara is projected later this month to use up the last of its water allocation from the reservoir, long the major source of water on the South Coast.
The City Council recently adopted a lawn-watering moratorium to help boost its conservation rate to 40 percent, effective Jan. 1.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.