Edition:
October 5, 2007
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Reporter/Columnist
Canyon Lake Mayor Mary Craton and Mayor Pro Tem Carl Armbrust joined Elsinore Valley Municipal Water Board President Ben Wicke in the Monday morning October 1 dedication of the Lake Elsinore Recycling Project that brought together more than 25 elected officials and civic leaders to view what many thought “impossible.”
Mary points out that she saw this historic first for the State of California as being significant because “this will stabilize the lake and could save some of the water coming through Canyon Lake.” She sees the new recycling project as a way to keep the water in Lake Elsinore stable because of the constant evaporation that occurs and that the aeration will help prevent further fish kills.
“We all are pleased about this project,” she says.
Water Board President Ben Wicke indicates the project is an important step for all parties involved when it comes to the conservation and reclaiming of water. He notes that recycled water project will add close to 4.5 millions gallons daily from EVMWD’s regional wastewater reclamation facility into Lake Elsinore.
“It has been a long time coming, yet it is something that will benefit everyone,” he adds.
State officials such as Assemblyman John Benoit and Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, along with Riverside County First District Supervisor Bob Buster, spoke about how the new project would benefit the valley communities.
Phil Williams, the chairman of Lake Elsinore and San Jacinto Watersheds Authority which includes both cities of Canyon Lake and Lake Elsinore, Riverside County, EVMWD and the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, says this is the first such project statewide to allow reclaimed, recycled water to be used and approved safe for body contact for recreational purposes.
Assemblyman Benoit called the project an example of how communities and agencies could work together to develop a support system and purification program. Assemblyman Jeffries stated the project was “a magnificent achievement,” and Supervisor Buster added that when he first heard and sat on the initial committee, he wondered if it could ever be implemented.
Three major television channels were on hand to record all the various leaders as they joined in tossing symbolic purple rubber ducks into the water channel that swiftly carried them down into the lake itself.
By using the recycled and specially treated reclaimed water to stabilize the lake, the two cities with their mutual cooperation will be the statewide model for how to keep water usable says Mark Norton of EVMWD.
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