IRWD has over 132,000 public water system municipal connections (including potable and recycled water).
County of Orange
Figure 3 - 1. IRWD Service Area within Orange County
As discussed more in Section 6, historically, IRWD’s potable water system was largely reliant on imported water supplies from Metropolitan. In 1979, IRWD began developing local water supplies to reduce dependence on costly imported water and now produces drinking water from 25 groundwater wells throughout the service area. Approximately one-half of IRWD’s water supplies comes from local groundwater wells in the Orange County Groundwater Basin (Basin, Basin 8-1). Imported water from Metropolitan makes up approximately one-fifth of IRWD’s supply. Water imported to Orange County comes from two main sources: the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta, Bay-Delta) in Northern California conveyed in the State Water Project (SWP) and from the Colorado River through the Colorado River Aqueduct (CRA). IRWD meets about a quarter of the service area’s water demands with recycled water. Every gallon of recycled water used saves a gallon of drinking water. Using recycled water extends drinking water supplies and reduces reliance on costly imported water, helping to improve water supply reliability. On average, IRWD delivers about 26 million gallons of recycled water per day
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IRWD – 2025 Urban Water Management Plan
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