| Abbreviation | MWDOC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1951 |
| Headquarters | 18700 Ward Street, Fountain Valley California |
| Website | www.mwdoc.com |
The Municipal Water District of Orange County, commonly known by the acronym MWDOC, is a wholesale water provider, water resource development and planning agency., [1] water-centric information, education, emergency planning, and conservation resource hub for nearly 3.2 million [2] [3] Orange County, California residents, and businesses. Local water supply sources meet only about half of the region's total water needs. [4] [5] To fulfill the remaining demand, MWDOC buys imported water from the California State Water Project in northern California and the Colorado River through the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (Metropolitan). MWDOC delivers water to its 27 member agencies - made up of both water districts and city water departments - who then, in turn, provide retail water service to the public. [6] [7]
Metropolitan is the largest municipal water supplier in the United States, and MWDOC is the third largest Metropolitan member agency [8] [9] [10] .
MWDOC is a California special district governed by a seven-member Board of Directors [11] elected by the public for a four-year term. MWDOC's service area consists of seven divisions, and each director represents a specific division. MWDOC also appoints four representatives to the Metropolitan Board to advocate for Orange County's water interests.
Throughout history, people have influenced and depended on water to grow food, raise animals, manufacture and transport resources, and ensure optimal health. [13] [14] Water is a vital natural resource that our societies rely on for survival. [15] Indigenous peoples of California such as the Kizh (Gabrieleño), Acjachemen (Juaneño), and Payómkawichum (Luiseño) thrived on the land now known as Orange County territory for thousands of years. [16] < These tribes settled near available water sources such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands, working with seasonal weather cycles to meet their water needs. Colonization here began in 1769. In 1810, settlers made the first irrigation diversion of the Santa Ana River to supply missions, ranches, and towns. [17] [18] [19] Gaspar de Portolá was the first Spanish military leader to explore Orange County and document the area. [20]
By the mid 1800’s, the California Gold Rush had spurred a population surge, creating an even greater water demand. At this time, Orange County's growing communities relied primarily on surface water from the Santa Ana River. Deadly floods and long periods of drought severely impacted communities here. Soon, groundwater became a water supply for the area, and Orange County began to grow faster than ever before. With a large portion of Orange County now pulling water out of the ground, it became increasingly apparent that the underground basin could no longer support the area's water demands, and thriving cities desperately began searching for alternative sources of water. [21] From 1928 to 1931, the Orange County cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana joined ten other Southern California cities in the formation of Metropolitan. This union's initial aim was to transport water from the Colorado River, supplementing available water supply and ensuring against any water shortage in the future.
Orange County is a semi-arid region. [22] [23] [24] While most of the state's precipitation falls in Northern California, most of the population lives in the lower part of the state. [25] [26] [27] Southern California meets water supply needs with local water sources and imported water from hundreds of miles away. This water travels long distances through canals and pipelines and passing through reservoirs and water treatment plants along the way. [28] [29] The region's two primary sources of imported water come from the Colorado River and snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada Mountains through the California State Water Project – the most extensive state-built water delivery system in the United States, consisting of more than 700 miles of complex water infrastructure. [30] [31] [32] [33] The remaining water demand is met by a large underground aquifer located in the northern part of the county, recycled wastewater, and several small groundwater basins. [34]
The primary purpose of MWDOC is to provide a reliable supply of high-quality water for Orange County residents, businesses, and industry at an equitable and economical cost, both today and long into the future. [35] [36] To do this, MWDOC works closely with Metropolitan and its 27 member agencies, to identify, study, and evaluate opportunities to improve and secure Orange County’s overall water reliability. [37] [38]
In addition to providing water, sound representation, and planning and water resource development assistance, MWDOC also offers Orange County’s 3.2 million residents [39] a wide-range of informational resources, water education programs for all ages, and consumer incentives on water-saving devices. Additionally, MWDOC administers the Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County (WEROC). WEROC provides training, mutual aid planning assistance, and emergency response coordination for all Orange County water and wastewater agencies [40] [41]
Orange County, often known by its initials O.C., is a county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, and more populous than 19 American states and Washington, D.C. Although largely suburban, it is the second-most-densely-populated county in the state behind San Francisco County. The county's three most-populous cities are Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, each of which has a population exceeding 300,000. Santa Ana is also the county seat. Six cities in Orange County are on the Pacific coast: Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point, and San Clemente.
The Orange County Line is a commuter rail line run by Metrolink from Los Angeles through Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County, connecting with the Coaster commuter rail service to San Diego. The Orange County Line carries passengers to the primary Metrolink hub at L.A. Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, as well as to many attractions in Orange County including the Knott's Berry Farm area, Angel Stadium of Anaheim and the Honda Center, the Disneyland Resort, Old Town Orange, Santa Ana Zoo, Mission San Juan Capistrano and many more. In San Diego County, it serves the Oceanside Pier and Camp Pendelton.
Area code 949 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California in southern Orange County. The area code was assigned on April 18, 1998, to a numbering plan area that resulted from a boundary change of area code 714 to exclude the southern cities of Orange County.
The Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD) is the law enforcement agency serving Orange County, California. It currently serves the unincorporated areas of Orange County and thirteen contract cities in the county: Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Stanton, Villa Park, and Yorba Linda.
California's 40th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California, encompassing Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties. The district is currently represented by Republican Young Kim. It was one of 18 districts that would have voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election had they existed in their current configuration while being won or held by a Republican in 2022.
The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for unincorporated areas of Orange County, California as well as 25 cities within the county that contract OCFA's services. There are 7 divisions and 11 battalions.
Santa Ana Canyon, or the Santa Ana Narrows, is the water gap where the Santa Ana River passes between the Santa Ana Mountains and the Chino Hills, near the intersection of Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties, California. It receives particularly strong Santa Ana winds in comparison to surrounding areas, hence the name. Originally, U.S. Route 91 ran through the canyon; however, it has long since been re-signed or upgraded along the entirety of its former right-of-way in the state. California State Route 91 is its primary successor.
Jamboree Road is a 15.8-mile (25.4 km) long major arterial road through Orange County, California, running through the cities of Newport Beach, Irvine, Tustin, and Orange.
San Juan Creek, also called the San Juan River, is a 29-mile (47 km) long stream in Orange and Riverside Counties, draining a watershed of 133.9 square miles (347 km2). Its mainstem begins in the southern Santa Ana Mountains in the Cleveland National Forest. It winds west and south through San Juan Canyon, and is joined by Arroyo Trabuco as it passes through San Juan Capistrano. It flows into the Pacific Ocean at Doheny State Beach. San Juan Canyon provides a major part of the route for California State Route 74.
Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana was a 63,414-acre (256.63 km2) Spanish land concession in present-day Orange County, California, given by Spanish Alta California Governor José Joaquín de Arrillaga in 1810 to Jose Antonio Yorba and his nephew Pablo Peralta. The grant extended eastward from the Santa Ana River to the Santa Ana Mountains, with a length of more than 22 miles (35 km).
The Orange County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing body of Orange County, California along with being the executive of the county.
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) of six of the ten counties in Southern California, serving Imperial County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and Ventura County. San Diego County's MPO is the San Diego Association of Governments, which is an unrelated agency.
Aliso Creek is a 19.8-mile (31.9 km)-long, mostly urban stream in south Orange County, California. Originating in the Cleveland National Forest in the Santa Ana Mountains, it flows generally southwest and empties into the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach. The creek's watershed drains 34.9 square miles (90 km2), and it is joined by seven main tributaries. As of 2018, the watershed had a population of 144,000 divided among seven incorporated cities.
Oso Creek is an approximately 13.5-mile (21.7 km) tributary of Arroyo Trabuco in southern Orange County in the U.S. state of California. Draining about 20 square miles (52 km2) in a region north of the San Joaquin Hills and south of the Santa Ana Mountains, the creek is Trabuco Creek's largest tributary, and is part of the San Juan Creek drainage basin. Beginning in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains near the city of Mission Viejo, the creek is dammed twice to form Upper Oso Reservoir and Lake Mission Viejo. The creek is channelized and polluted along much of its length.
Santiago Creek is a major watercourse in Orange County in the U.S. state of California. About 34 miles (55 km) long, it drains most of the northern Santa Ana Mountains and is a tributary to the Santa Ana River. It is one of the longest watercourses entirely within the county. The creek shares its name with Santiago Peak, at 5,687 ft (1,733 m) the highest point in Orange County, on whose slopes its headwaters rise.
San Diego Creek is a 16-mile (26 km) urban waterway flowing into Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California in the United States. Its watershed covers 112.2 square miles (291 km2) in parts of eight cities, including Irvine, Tustin, and Costa Mesa. From its headwaters in Laguna Woods the creek flows northwest to its confluence with Peters Canyon Wash, where it turns abruptly southwest towards the bay. Most of the creek has been converted to a concrete flood control channel, but it also provides important aquatic and riparian habitat along its course and its tidal estuary.
The Orange County Water District is a special district that manages the groundwater basin beneath central and northern Orange County, California. The groundwater basin provides a water supply to 19 municipal water agencies and special districts that serve 2.5 million Orange County residents. The Orange County Water District's service area covers approximately 350 square miles (910 km2) and the District owns approximately 1,600 acres (650 ha) in and near the Santa Ana River, which it uses to capture water flows for groundwater recharge. Additionally, the Orange County Water District owns approximately 2,150 acres (870 ha) of land above the Prado Dam in the Prado Reservoir and uses that land for water conservation, water storage and water quality improvements. The water district's administrative offices and the Groundwater Replenishment System facilities are located in Fountain Valley, while it also operates various groundwater recharge facilities located in Anaheim and Orange.
The 2022 Orange County Board of Supervisors elections were held on June 7 and November 8, 2022. Three of the five seats of the Orange County, California Board of Supervisors were up for election. This was the first set of elections held after the 2020 redistricting cycle. County elections in California are officially nonpartisan. A two-round system was used for the election, starting with the first round in June. Runoffs were held in all three districts, as no candidate managed to reach the 50% + 1 threshold.