A three-year construction project on San Diego’s oldest aqueduct is underway, with the San Diego County Water Authority leading the $66 million effort to upgrade the infrastructure.
Work on the project, known as the Southern First Aqueduct Facilities Improvement Project, is slated to run through summer 2026 and is intended to retrofit 99 structures connected to two water pipelines.
Pipeline 1 of the First Aqueduct was constructed in the 1940s and Pipeline 2 was built in the 1950s. On Nov. 28, 1947, the first Colorado River water flowed south from Riverside County for 71 miles into San Diego’s San Vicente Reservoir, according to a statement from the water authority.
The aqueduct and two pipelines can now transport up to 120 million gallons of water per day across the region. It serves 11 of the water authority’s member agencies, including six cities, 17 special districts and the Camp Pendleton Marine base.
The Southern First Aqueduct project spans 21 miles in Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Poway and portions of the unincorporated county.
The project is funded by water bills across the region as part of the water authority’s Capital Improvement Program. It is intended to reduce long- term costs of system maintenance by making upgrades before failures occur.
The water authority has scheduled a community open house on the project on June 5, from 5-7 p.m. at the Mickey Cafagna Community Center’s Oak Hall East at 13094 Civic Center Drive in Poway. The meeting will focus on information specific to the Poway section of the project.
Additional presentations will be scheduled as work advances into other communities.
— City News Service