They looked down at the water blasting through the Loveland Dam and called it “Pennies from Heaven."
Sweetwater Water Authority engineers opened a valve at the base of the dam shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday. Millions of gallons of water blasted out of the dam near Alpine to begin a 17-mile trek down to the Sweetwater Reservoir in Spring Valley.
“It’s a really cool thing to see, you know, water flowing out of the dam,” smiled Sweetwater Director of Engineering Erick Del Bosque. “We anticipate it’s going to take about two days for the first wave of water being released to reach Sweetwater Reservoir.”
Del Bosque said the Sweetwater Reservoir is dangerously low at only 14%. Loveland Reservoir isn’t much better at 30% but at least that water is free. Loveland only captures water runoff and rainfall.
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“This is something that we refer to as ‘Pennies from Heaven,’” said Del Bosque.
He said the water transfer will save customers in Chula Vista, Bonita, and National City millions of dollars during the next year.
“The local water,” he explained. “It’s more affordable to treat than the water that we purchase through the San Diego County Water Authority.”
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Del Bosque added it also allows other agencies that rely solely on imported water to have more water from Northern California and the Colorado River.
Sweetwater Authority said it will leave the valve open for at least several days until there’s enough water in its reservoir in Spring Valley. They said a similar transfer last year saved ratepayers upwards of $9 million.
