11-16-2022 9:27am

City of Santa Monica's new water infrastructure

Anita Johnson-Brown Editor

SANTA MONICA-The city of Santa Monica is getting a contemporary water infrastructure, created by (SWIP), the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Project, which has taken four years to produce. According to officials, The announcement was made earlier this week.

The project features several essential innovations: a massive, 1.5-million-gallon stormwater harvesting tank, which stores water before treatment (indicating Santa Monica is less restricted in the quantity of water it can process during storms; at the same time treat stormwater runoff and wastewater that builds up in Santa Monica; and help supply water for irrigation, dual-piped structures, and groundwater replenishment; and is balanced to reverse to the potable water supply if passed by state regulations permit.

SWIP is ecologically stable and reduces the city's dependence on imported water by a purification process, of water that would normally flow into the ocean, the system also diverts, oil, paint, plastic, and other unclean metropolitan runoff, and substances out of Santa Monica Bay.

City Council members City workers, and State Senator Ben Allen will be among the attendees celebrating the $95 million project with a ribbon-cutting event on the top level of the underground structure scheduled for On Thursday, November 17, 2022.

The city of Santa Monica stated in a press release "At the surface, SWIP looks like a parking lot at the City's Civic Center, but beneath the surface is an example of water resiliency."

Planters on the exterior level of the site have mask air vents that release filtered air from the treatment plant and does produce an odor. SWIP was designed to not be odor free.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony is free and open to the community, guests are asked to register via Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.com/e/ribbon-cutting-event-sustainable-water-infrastructure-project-tickets-428798356427. Visitors who drive to the ribbon-cutting event, are asked to park their vehicles in the parking structure off 4th Street at Olympic Drive The parking lot is located between the Civic Auditorium and the Courthouse, at 1771 Main Street. City employees will escort the guest to the ribbon-cutting site.

written by Anita Johnson-Brown