The Santa Ana Regional Interceptor
A Quality Solution

For detailed information about SARI including applications and instructions for dischargers, click here.

Many factors impact the quality of water delivered to the ultimate consumer: the quality of the source water itself, how and where it is used - and reused. One factor affecting the quality of water for the four million water users in the Santa Ana Watershed is the adverse salt balance that exists in the basin. An adverse salt balance, or high TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), is the result of more minerals or salts entering a watershed than going out. Salt is added to the Santa Ana River watershed by fertilizers and chemicals, and by the import of water with higher levels of salt.

In addition, municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastes increase the salt imbalance, as does water re-use. Within the Santa Ana River watershed, water is used at least twice before ultimate disposal to the ocean. These water uses concentrate the salts with each use. Typically, each use adds 200-300 mg/L TDS. TDS begin to interfere with the use of water somewhere between 500 and 1,000 mg/L. At 1,000 mg/L, water is brackish and unusable.

Salt is a costly problem for all water users: residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, groundwater and recycling programs, and water utility distribution systems. Salinity makes laundry detergents work less effectively, plumbing fixtures and home appliances wear out faster, and industrial users incur extra treatment costs for cooling towers, boilers, and manufacturing processes. At high enough levels, taste begins to be affected. Recycling and compliance with state and federal wastewater discharge permits becomes difficult to accomplish. Vegetation can experience restricted growth and reduced crop yield. Disposal of high saline waste can also be costly. In the Santa Ana watershed, discharge of high saline wastewater to the municipal sewer system may result in violation of waste discharge permits, resulting in fines for municipal wastewater treatment operations and the industries that create the waste stream.

THE SOLUTIONS

There are real solutions to the problem of salt imbalance in the Santa Ana River watershed.

IMPORT OF LOW-SALINE WATER- One solution that has been ongoing for the past 20 years is transition from use of high salinity import water to lower salinity water. In 1956, Western, as a member agency of the Metropolitan Water District, began importing Colorado River water to western Riverside County to supplement diminishing local supplies. While the water provided needed relief to groundwater overdraft in the basin, it also brought a high level of minerals and salts.

In 1979, water from the State Water Project in Northern California became available to the watershed. This water is much lower in salt levels than Colorado River water. Today, about 75% of the imported water supplies that Western brings into the watershed are from Northern California via the State Water Project.

DESALINATION - While the import of low TDS water helps alleviate the salt problem, added salts must also be extracted from the water before it is put back into the re-use cycle. One option for removing salts from the water is desalination. The Arlington Desalter, located in Riverside, has been in operation since 1990 and can desalt approximately six million gallons of groundwater daily.

The Santa Ana Regional Interceptor - For commercial and industrial water users whose processes create a high-saline waste stream, discharging these wastes to a dedicated source helps prevent the degradation of water quality caused by salt build-up. The Santa Ana Regional Interceptor (SARI) was built for just that purpose. The SARI line provides industrial users in the Santa Ana watershed with an environmentally-friendly and convenient way to dispose of high saline waste. This helps industry meet discharge requirements and keeps added salts out of the municipal sewer systems and, therefore, out of the watershed.