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Santa Margarita Water District outlines Oso Creek reclamation rebuild, aims for construction in August 2025 and completion by 2028
Summary
The Santa Margarita Water District presented a redesigned Oso Creek Water Reclamation Plant that aims to roughly double capacity while shrinking the footprint by about 20%; staff said construction could begin mid‑August 2025 and finish by 2028, and the city has invested $1,000,000 in the project.
Rob Grantham, general manager of the Santa Margarita Water District, told the Mission Viejo City Council on April 8 that the district will rebuild the Oso Creek Water Reclamation Plant to increase capacity and improve water quality. "We'll be getting in under construction mid August, and then it'll be about 2 and a half year process, and so it should be done by the 2028," Grantham said.
The district's plan, presented alongside chief engineer Trisha Butler, would roughly double the plant's capacity while reducing its footprint by about 20 percent through the use of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, officials said. Grantham described the project as part of a broader push to reuse recycled water locally and eventually develop indirect potable reuse. He said the district serves more than 200,000 residents in south Orange County and remains highly dependent on imported water.
Why it matters: District officials framed the rebuild as both an environmental and reliability investment. By increasing local reuse and building redundancy, they said the project would help protect south-county water supplies in the event of upstream outages or infrastructure failures.
Supporting details: Grantham said the original Oso Creek plant was built in 1978 and that the redesign started in 2022. He said the project will reduce the site footprint, allow for future administrative facilities, and will support an eventual shift to creating a local drinking-water supply via indirect potable reuse. Grantham told the council the city has invested $1,000,000 in the project and that the district is pursuing grants to fill remaining funding gaps.
Council response and next steps: Council members welcomed the presentation and asked staff to keep the council updated as the project moves toward procurement. The district said it invited neighboring agencies and federal partners, including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, to coordinate on the program.
The presentation was informational; no formal council action was taken at this meeting. The district said construction is expected to begin mid‑August 2025, with plant completion targeted in 2028.
