District awarded federal grant for wastewater infrastructure

The California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) has awarded Moulton Niguel Water District $10.3 million from Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to replace nearly two miles of sewer force mains located in Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

“We are grateful to our partners at FEMA Region 9 and the CalOES for their ongoing support as well as U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and our Orange County congressional delegation for their help in securing this federal grant,” said Vice President Brian S. Probolsky, who met with officials in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento about the federal grant.

Moulton Niguel is engineering the project to use a state-of-the-art trenchless construction technique, called microtunneling, at five creek crossings to minimize the impact on the natural environment. They are also evaluating the opportunity to line and repurpose one of the existing pipelines to convey urban runoff from Aliso Creek, which will reduce urban runoff discharges to improve the local creeks and beaches.

The District began pursuing federal support for the project in 2019 as a way to mitigate the risk of infrastructure damage during seismic and severe storm events. With this announcement, the district has secured federal funds for approximately 75 percent of the project’s expected construction costs.