This article first appeared in the, Yucaipa Calimesa News Mirror Reporter Oct 21, 2025 by By Adeniyi Latinwo
Local and regional water leaders broke ground on the County Line Road Recharge Basin and Turnout Project on Tuesday, Oct. 14. It is a $3.1 million initiative designed to bring clean drinking water and drought resilience to the Calimesa region.
The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, and South Mesa Water Company are partnering on the County Line Road Recharge Basin and Turnout Project. The groundbreaking was located near 960 Fourth Street, Community Park.
This regional water supply project will deliver clean and reliable drinking water to 18,000 people. It will also import water to the Calimesa region for the first time, strengthen regional drought resilience and stabilize Yucaipa Subbasin groundwater.
Situated at Bryant Street and County Line Road, the site will include a turnout to move clean water to a future Calimesa facility capable of handling up to 479 million gallons annually. By connecting to California’s State Water Project and repurposing an abandoned pipeline, officials said the three agencies will enhance their ability to import and store water.
Funding for the project comes from $3.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds secured by Riverside County Fifth District Supervisor Dr. Yxstian Gutierrez, who helped make the project possible.
The general manager of the San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency, Lance Eckhart, said that Yucaipa and Calimesa are some of the highest growth areas by percentage in the state historically. He believes that this project will provide an ample supply of water for two high-demanding cities. “This ensures that we can bring supplemental supply to add to the natural groundwater basin,” Eckhart said. “It’ll naturally yield to the groundwater basin to ensure that we have plenty of water for this growing community.”
Along with the water supply, Eckhart thinks that the project will warrant more jobs in the city and make way for future opportunities. “It does bring local jobs to the area to maintain these facilities. More importantly, it brings economic development because water supply allows us to water our economic garden,” Eckhart said. “It allows the sustainable supply so people can economically develop because they know water won’t be a limiting factor.”
The General Manager of South Mesa Water Agency, Dave Armstrong, believes the collaboration between the three agencies grants access to pick water from the ground in areas in Calimesa where they couldn’t do so in the past. “It’s the one basin, the largest basin in the whole Yucaipa Valley, but the one place where we didn’t have a chance to pick groundwater recharge in the ground,” Armstrong said. “Now, with this collaboration between the three agencies, the two state water contractors, and South Mesa, we’re going to put water in the ground.”
The ceremony included remarks from Supervisor Gutierrez, local officials and members of each agency’s board of directors. Lunch was provided, and photo opportunities followed the groundbreaking.