ENCINITAS, Calif. (KGTV) - Water officials in Encinitas cut the ribbon Tuesday on the new headquarters for the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority.
The $20.6 million facility will house the SEJPA administration, as well as classrooms and research space for students across San Diego.
In addition to the new building, the facility has 31 public parking spots to serve the San Elijo Lagoon and Nature Center, a small public park, and a bike path running from Manchester Avenue to Birmingham Drive.
It also adds a 90,000-gallon capture and storage tank for stormwater runoff. That will send stormwater back into the wastewater recycling system at the SEJPA instead of going into the Lagoon or the ocean.
"What we're doing is breaking the barrier," says SEJPA General Manager Mike Thornton. "People thought you don't put stormwater into the sewer system. We believe we can strategically. We can capture that water, prevent the pollutants from going into sensitive water bodies, and then reuse that water as part of our local water supply."
The San Elijo Joint Powers Authority provides water for Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, and parts of Rancho Santa Fe. The plant has the capacity to treat 5.25 million gallons of water every day and produce more than 500 million gallons of recycled water every year.
