On behalf of the City of Santa Ana Public Works Agency, I am pleased to present this Annual Consumer Confidence Report, which gives you data about the quality of your drinking water and important information about water conservation.
Conservation has been and will be an important initiative, particularly as we continue to face mandatory water restrictions due to California’s historic drought. Last year, we asked all Santa Ana residents and businesses to save water as never before and, as a community, you took this message to heart. We not only met our conservation target, we exceeded that target by four percent. Despite the moderate rainfall we experienced last winter, we don’t know how long the dry conditions will last and ask that you remain vigilant in conserving this precious resource.
We are not only committed to excellent water quality but long-term sustainability. We are aggressively moving forward in revitalizing and improving our main water infrastructure and waste water. This includes modernizing one of our oldest pumping stations, replacing 3 miles of pipes and augmenting our water infrastructure with six additional miles of water lines.
At the same time, we have established a comprehensive citywide program to build a first-class network of streets, reduce traffic speed, and improve mobility by creating more bike lanes and widening sidewalks. Called SMaRT-Santa Ana, the program is expected to not only reduce the number of fatalities involving pedestrians and cyclists, it will help create jobs and improve quality of life for all Santa Ana residents. Last year alone, the Public Works Agency secured $45 million in grants from outside sources, which will help fund this important initiative for our City.
Also, a number of successful public-private partnerships we have created in specific industrial neighborhoods are enabling the City to improve streets, sidewalks and ADA ramps at a reduced cost and ahead of schedule. This cost-sharing model will serve as a template for other communities in Santa Ana.
Looking to the future, we plan to provide a citywide broadband network and telecommunications system utilizing fiber optic technology. This gigabyte speed, low-cost Internet will be a major service to the community and a tool for economic development as we become better positioned to attract new businesses to Santa Ana.
All these programs exemplify our stewardship of Santa Ana’s infrastructure, which is essential to our community’s safety, health, and quality of life. We are proud of our community and are working to put Santa Ana on the map as one of the most proactive and innovative cities in the U.S.
Fred Mousavipour
Executive Director
Public Works Agency
City of Santa Ana