San Juan Capistrano to decide on a water district

The San Juan Capistrano City Council has agreed to make a decision on Feb. 19th, on which water district to enter into an exclusive negotiation to possibly take over the city’s water and sewer services.

Councilmember John Taylor says three water districts made presentations, the Santa Margarita Water District, the Moulton Niguel Water District and South Coast Water District.

He says the responsibility would be huge for which water district ultimately takes over because the city’s infrastructure is old with its aging sewer lines and aging water lines. The water district would have to invest over a five year period, about 25 million dollars to take care of the infrastructure.

Taylor says the Council’s decision is tough because the Moulton Niguel Water District historically has the lowest water rates; the Santa Margarita Water District has a ground water recharge and has state of the art technology its working on; and the South Coast Water District is building a desalination plant which would be a great source of water.