District Projects
Yorba Linda Water District is totally independent of all city and county governments. None of the revenue obtained by Yorba Linda Water District is used to subsidize non-water related activities or the activities of any other agency.
Yorba Linda Water District is dedicated to providing the best and most economical water and sewer services to our customer. This means taking on District-wide projects to help improve or maintain infrastructure as well as preserve water rights.
Currently, the District is involved in two projects:
- Highland Reservoir
New Highland Reservoir will increase local supply reliability. It will be placed underground to improve stability and views.
- Construction of New Headquarters
To consolidate different functions within the District and provide adequate room for staff, a new Headquarters was constructed in 2008.
Highland Reservoir
The Yorba Linda Water District broke ground this week on a replacement for the 95-year-old Highland Reservoir – one of the oldest water-storage facilities in Orange County. The new reservoir will increase local storage capacity by 1.4 million gallons and be placed underground to allow for improved structural stability and enhanced views for neighboring residents. Construction is scheduled for completion by June 2010.
The Highland Reservoir was originally built in 1911 as an open-air reservoir and was eventually covered with a roof and surrounding enclosure walls in the late 1950s. The aging 4.6-million-gallon reservoir will be replaced with a 6 million-gallon underground reinforced concrete reservoir that will bring added supply reliability to the central portion of the YLWD service area and improve views for customers in the western portion of Yorba Linda. The $11.2 million-project will be funded through long-term revenue bonds.
“Having sufficient water storage capacity is critical to ensuring a low-cost, reliable supply,” said YLWD General Manager Michael Payne. “Increasing storage capacity at our Highland Reservoir will benefit our entire service area since it sits at the highest point in our gravity-driven distribution system. Being able to do that while improving views is an opportunity that just made a whole lot of sense.”
Necessary tree removal and clearing began earlier this year in preparation for the groundbreaking. In the coming weeks, two temporary steel reservoir tanks will be placed at the site to hold the Highland water while the new reservoir is constructed. Once they are in place, work will begin to demolish and remove the existing reservoir and old pipelines, and remediate several abandoned oil wells that once operated on the site.
“The Highland Reservoir was YLWD’s oldest storage facility, and successfully operated far beyond anyone’s original expectations,” Payne said. “We’re confident its predecessor will live up to a similar standard far into the future.”
Construction of New Headquarters
The new District Headquarters building has recently been completed. The new building now provides much needed room for the administrative staff, it also puts administration and operations on the same campus. Below is an architectural rendering of the new building.
