News Releases
San Diego County Water Authority
News Release: June 2, 2005 |
Contact:
John Liarakos
Office (858) 522-6703
Mobile (858) 761-2544 |
or
Donna Nenow
Office (858) 522-6707
Mobile (858) 414-8168 |
San Diego County Water Authority Wetland Creation Project Completed
Restoration creates habitat for endangered species
The San Diego County Water Authority today announced the completion of its
first wetland creation project, eight acres at the northeast end of the San
Elijo Lagoon Ecological Reserve in Encinitas. The project has restored the former
wetland, which had been damaged from years of farming and grazing.
“With the heavy winter rains, we are especially proud of the fact that
this project was completed on time,” said Hubert Zecha, wetlands project
manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. “We completed the construction
in time to avoid the nesting season for endangered birds in the reserve.”
Started in October 2004, the $1 million project included removing nonnative
plant species that posed a threat to the quality of the wetland habitat (including
mustard, pampas grass and nonnative acacia) and relocating the smaller Torrey
pine trees, which were not indigenous to the area, and donating them to the
San Diego County Parks and Recreation.
The project also included creating channels, ponds and hummocks, mimicking
a wetland habitat. This facilitates the development of diverse patches of wetland
vegetation. The Water Authority seeded the site with native plants (including
isocoma scrub, southern willow scrub and marsh plant species) and installed
a temporary irrigation system to help get the new plants off to a healthy start.
The wetland creation project is part of the San Diego County Water Authority’s
Emergency Storage Project, which will ensure San Diego has enough water in case
of a natural disaster or some other interruption in our imported water supply.
Since the Emergency Storage Project involves constructing new water pipelines,
pumping stations and other infrastructure throughout the region, the San Diego
County Water Authority is managing environmental projects similar to this to
offset environmental impacts caused by construction.
“The wetland project is a win-win for the region,” said Zecha.
“It creates important habitat for wildlife while supporting the Emergency
Storage Project, which will protect our region’s $142 billion economy
and quality of life by ensuring a reliable water supply during a natural disaster
or other emergency.”
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The San Diego County Water Authority is a public agency serving
the San Diego region as a wholesale supplier of water from the Colorado River
and Northern California. The Water Authority works through its 23 member agencies
to provide a safe, reliable water supply to support the region’s $142
billion economy and the quality of life of 3 million residents.
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