Your Water

Santa Margarita Water District provides high-quality drinking water, recycled water, and wastewater services in southern Orange County. 

The District's mission statement strives to "...provide our customers with quality water and wastewater service – maximizing human, environmental, and financial resources – to help guide South Orange County’s water and wastewater needs into the next century." 

As part of this goal, the District is currently focused on three strategic goals by 2030:

1. 30% Local Water Supply (10,000-14,000 AF)

The District is almost entirely reliant on imported water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.  In order to provide more reliability, SMWD is working on an alternative water supply by 2030. 

2. 6 Months of Drinking Water Storage 

Santa Margarita Water District has a storage capacity of almost 430 million gallons of drinking water which represents one of the largest storage capacities in Orange County. However, the District typically brings in 10 billion gallons of drinking water per year. To provide additional security against long-term service interruption, the District is working with regional partners to develop regional water storage solutions.

3. Recycle 100% of Wastewater 

The District has one of the largest recycled water programs in Orange County. This has been achieved by innovative urban return projects as well as operating three wastewater reclamation plants. These plants are not only capable of treating the wastewater to the secondary treatment necessary to discharge to the ocean but can apply tertiary treatment which allows the water to be utilized in the District's recycled water system. During the winter months, more wastewater is generated than recycled water is needed which results in the District discharging the excess to the ocean.