About Your Water
Water Sources

Drinking Water

The District obtains its water from two sources:

  1. Local water from Lake Hodges, and
  2. Imported water purchased from the San Diego County Water Authority.

Lake Hodges

The District jointly retains water rights to the surface water stored in Lake Hodges with the City of San Diego and San Dieguito Water District. The City of San Diego owns the Lake Hodges Dam and manages the watershed and recreational activities associated with Lake Hodges. Lake Hodges water can be directly supplied to the R. E. Badger Filtration Plant through the Cielo Pump Station or gravity fed to San Dieguito Reservoir through a recently constructed pipeline.

San Dieguito Reservoir

The District jointly owns and operates San Dieguito Reservoir with San Dieguito Water District. San Dieguito Reservoir currently provides an emergency source of water for both Districts' service areas and is not open to the public for recreation.

Emergency Storage Project

Near the end of 2008, Lake Hodges will be connected to the San Diego County Water Authority's Emergency Storage Project. When complete, Lake Hodges will be used to store imported water for the San Diego region and strengthen available supplies of water in San Diego County in the event of an emergency.

Imported Water

Imported water is supplied to the District by an aqueduct from Lake Skinner, located near Hemet in Riverside County. The Aqueduct is owned and operated by the San Diego County Water Authority.

Lake Skinner is a blend of water imported from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from two separate sources: a 242-mile aqueduct brings Colorado River Water from Lake Havasu and the 444-mile California Aqueduct brings water from the State Water Project originating in Northern California.

In addition to this imported raw water supply, the District can receive water purchased from the Skinner Water Treatment Plant. This treatment plant is located near Lake Skinner and supplies treated water to numerous other water agencies in the San Diego County Region.

Access to local and imported water sources ensures that the District's customers can receive a stable and reliable source of water throughout the year. Both the local and imported water sources are delivered to the R. E. Badger Treatment Plant for treatment and delivery. The District has historically obtained approximately 35% of its water from Lake Hodges and 65% from imported water supplied by the County Water Authority.

Recycled Water

As part of its effort to reduce overall demand on potable water, the Santa Fe Irrigation District is committed to obtaining alternative water sources. We currently purchase recycled water from the San Elijo Joint Powers Authority and distribute it to customers in Solana Beach. The Lomas Santa Fe Golf Course and the San Dieguito Park are two of the growing number of customers who have converted to recycled from potable water. The use of this nonpotable source of water increases the District's supply of potable water for the essential health and safety uses of its customers.

The District is currently delivering approximately 500 acre feet (163 million gallons) of recycled water, which represents almost 4% of total water consumption. We are exploring other recycled water delivery opportunities and plan to continue to expand our recycled customer base.