Cucamonga Valley Water District Tour

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We were invited on a tour of the Cucamonga Valley Water District. It was to be an all day tour. When we arrived we figured out this was not just for the general public but was for elected official's and some community organizations. We were invited because we were the grand prize winners of this years water savvy landscape contest. Our first stop was the Devil Canyon Power Plant, part of the State Water Project. I learned that when they pump water over and through the mountains they use the energy to generate electricity on the way down lowering the overall cost to move water from northern CA to southern CA.

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We then went to the Lloyd W. Michael water treatment plant. The picture in the lower left shows the new ultraviolet water treatment equipment. The UV does not remove the microorganisms it just blocks them from being able to reproduce.  The water then gets filtered using charcoal to remove more of the microorganisms. The final stop was the Arthur H. Bridge water treatment plant. This plant receives water from snowmelt and springs in the canyon. They refer to this as the champagne of water because of it good taste and low needs for purification.

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