New Construction
SBVWCD plans to construct seven new groundwater percolation basins, with accompanying dikes, access roads, diversion structures, and canals, as part of the Upper Santa Ana River Wash Land Management and Habitat Conservation Plan (Wash Plan). Typical basins consist of the following: access roads 12-15 feet wide, dikes 5-15 feet high, and basins 100-200 feet wide of varying length. Access roads continue along the top of the dikes.
The Conservation District estimates the maximum total impact associated with these new facilities to be 45.5 acres of permanent disturbance, with an additional 32.4 acres of temporary construction disturbance. Actual land area to be used will most likely be less than these estimated values.
In addition to these facilities, the Conservation District is pursuing the restoration of the Seven Oaks Dam Borrow Site to its pre-excavation condition with the US Army Corps of Engineers. This project includes:
- reconstructing several groundwater percolation basins destroyed by that excavation
- restoring the native vegetation community that thrived around those basins.
These restoration efforts are still in the conceptual stage, and so are not ready for full environmental analysis.
