Gano Reservoir and Unit X Pipelines

The Gano Reservoir and Unit X Pipelines Project was completed by the Olivenhain Municipal Water District to address three critical needs: lack of potable water storage, necessary increase in fire flow at the urban/wildland interface, and meet potable water demand peaks. The potential impacts to the community surrounding the project site were the District's first priorities in designing and constructing the project. In designing the 6.5-million-gallon tank and 10,000 linear feet of pipeline, the reservoir was selected to be a partially buried concrete tank—a process which created approximately 100,000 cubic yards of export material. The project was also a cooperative effort between a public agency and a private entity. An agreement was made between the District and an adjacent development to export fill material to the neighboring Black Mountain Ranch site. This partnership not only saved time, money, and energy exporting the material, but also significantly reduced traffic, noise, and dust impacts to the existing homes in the community during construction and resulted in an aesthetically pleasing project.

The District also carefully considered the environmental impacts of the new reservoir to the surrounding area. Environmental challenges associated with the project consisted of minimizing visual impacts, the presence of the endangered California Gnatcatcher in some project areas, the pipeline crossing a portion of a dedicated Multiple Habitat Conservation Preserve (MHCP), and the pipeline crossing Lusardi Creek. The District also carefully considered the aesthetic impact of the project and the potential long-term construction impacts.