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We Passed Our Annual Water Quality Checkup!

Today, South Coast Water District purchases 80% of your drinking water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Metropolitan imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California and transports it hundreds of miles to our semi-arid region.

We are pleased to provide you with the 2010 Water Quality Report which shows that your drinking water continues to meet all state and federal water quality standards. For more information about your drinking water quality, please contact Tim Bennett at (949) 499-4555 x3129. You may also download the 2010 Water Quality Report brochure in “PDF” format (2.45MB). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat software on your computer, which is needed to read the “PDF” format, please click here.

Is Our Water "Hard?"

The water that we get from Northern California and, in particular, the Colorado River, tends to contain more minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, making our water "hard." This does not affect the safety of your drinking water, but you may notice a difference in the taste, or spots on glasses and silverware after washing, or difficulty with soap lathering up.

What can you do?

It is possible to install water softening systems in your home or business to alleviate the "hardness" in the water. However, there is an environmentally-friendly way to do this and one that is detrimental to our water supply.

Not recommended: Self-regenerating water softening systems.

To reduce the "hardness" of water, some customers use "self-regenerating" water softeners. This method uses rock salt (sodium or potassium chloride) to eliminate the "hardness." However, this can discharge hundreds of pounds of salt into the sewer system each year. That’s a problem because we recycle more than 10% of our wastewater to irrigate parks, golf courses, street medians, and homeowners' association landscaping – in order to conserve drinking water. Recycled water that is high in salt and minerals is far less desirable for outdoor watering. Our advanced wastewater treatment process simply cannot remove the excess salt that "self-regenerating" water softeners produce.

Recommended: Exchange tank water softening systems.

To avoid the degradation of recycled water used for local irrigation, the District recommends that customers hire a water softening service company that provides an "exchange tank system." This method of water softening does not discharge excess salt into the sewer system, but removes spent salt cartridges for recycling. It’s an environmentally-friendly way to soften water.

Extraordinary Accuracy
The tests are done with such extraordinary accuracy that some substances can be detected at the level of one hundredth of a part of substance in a billion parts of water. This is equivalent to finding one drop of a substance in 1,300,000 gallons of water, the amount of water in about 75 swimming pools.

We Passed Our Annual Water Quality Checkup! Today, South Coast Water District purchases 80% of your drinking water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Metropolitan imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California and transports it hundreds of miles to our semi-arid region. We are pleased to provide you with the 2010 Water Quality Report which shows that your drinking water continues to meet all state and federal water quality standards. For more information about your drinking water quality, please contact Tim Bennett at (949) 499-4555 x3129. You may also download the 2010 Water Quality Report brochure in “PDF” format (2.45MB). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat software on your computer, which is needed to read the “PDF” format, please click here. Is Our Water "Hard?" The water that we get from Northern California and, in particular, the Colorado River, tends to contain more minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, making our water "hard." This does not affect the safety of your drinking water, but you may notice a difference in the taste, or spots on glasses and silverware after washing, or difficulty with soap lathering up. What can you do? It is possible to install water softening systems in your home or business to alleviate the "hardness" in the water. However, there is an environmentally-friendly way to do this and one that is detrimental to our water supply. Not recommended: Self-regenerating water softening systems. To reduce the "hardness" of water, some customers use "self-regenerating" water softeners. This method uses rock salt (sodium or potassium chloride) to eliminate the "hardness." However, this can discharge hundreds of pounds of salt into the sewer system each year. That’s a problem because we recycle more than 10% of our wastewater to irrigate parks, golf courses, street medians, and homeowners' association landscaping – in order to conserve drinking water. Recycled water that is high in salt and minerals is far less desirable for outdoor watering. Our advanced wastewater treatment process simply cannot remove the excess salt that "self-regenerating" water softeners produce. Recommended: Exchange tank water softening systems. To avoid the degradation of recycled water used for local irrigation, the District recommends that customers hire a water softening service company that provides an "exchange tank system." This method of water softening does not discharge excess salt into the sewer system, but removes spent salt cartridges for recycling. It’s an environmentally-friendly way to soften water.


		Thousands of Tests Certified water quality professionals monitor your water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so you don't have to worry about it. They conduct thousands of tests each year.

		Extraordinary Accuracy The tests are done with such extraordinary accuracy that some substances can be detected at the level of one hundredth of a part of substance in a billion parts of water. This is equivalent to finding one drop of a substance in 1,300,000 gallons of water, the amount of water in about 75 swimming pools.

		Rigorous Schedule Some tests are conducted daily, some weekly, some monthly, and at other intervals. With today's sophisticated equipment, some tests are conducted around the clock.
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