Cerritos begins providing recycled water service to Forest Lawn Memorial Park

The City of Cerritos is now providing recycled water service to Forest Lawn Memorial Park as of August 8. In addition to helping Forest Lawn save more than 250 acre-feet of potable water annually, the expanded service also is expected to generate approximately $50,000 in annual revenue for the City. Forest Lawn has more than 100 acres of lawn area that was previously irrigated with potable water for more than 50 years.

The City of Cerritos embarked on the project to expand the City’s recycled water system to serve Forest Lawn in December 2014. The project involved the construction of approximately 8,200 lineal feet of 16-inch-diameter recycled water pipeline starting from the City of Cerritos and continuing through a portion of the cities of Lakewood and Cypress. The new pipeline crosses two bridges: Coyote Creek, which is shared between Los Angeles County and Orange County, and Moody Creek, located within the Forest Lawn facility.

The project was completed in December 2015, with final approvals received from the State and OC Department of Health in July 2016. The total project cost was approximately $2.6 million. Roughly $1 million of that amount was funded by a California Department of Water Resources grant, with the remaining cost funded by Forest Lawn. The City of Cerritos is responsible for maintaining the water line and related infrastructure.

“With this latest service to Forest Lawn, the City’s recycled water system continues to benefit numerous local agencies, in addition to our own community” stated Cerritos Mayor George Ray. “As a result of the City’s leadership and foresight in this area, our neighborhoods are blessed with beautiful green parks, schools, lawns and landscaped areas.”

The City of Cerritos is committed to conserving natural resources through the use of a recycled water distribution system, one of the largest systems in California with a 22-mile underground loop. Since 1988 when the system was constructed, the use of recycled water has saved approximately 815 million gallons of drinking water every year.

The recycled water system is used to irrigate more than 200 acres of City-owned property, including the majority of the City’s medians, parks, parkways, decorative fountains and schools. In addition to Forest Lawn, the recycled water system transports water to various local agencies, including the ABC Unified School District, Artesia Cemetery, Caltrans, Central Basin Municipal Water District, Cerritos College, Cerritos Post Office, Cerritos Regional Park, City of Lakewood and Valley Christian Schools.

Various privately owned landscaped areas such as those at Cerritos Towne Center, portions of the Cerritos Auto Square and some churches, nurseries and housing developments in the City are also irrigated with recycled water. The recycled water is billed monthly at about half the cost of drinking water.

Cerritos receives its recycled water from the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County’s Los Coyotes Water Reclamation Plant, which produces up to 37.5 million gallons of recycled water every day. Originating from industries, businesses and homes, the waste water is treated by a three-stage process by the Sanitation District before being used for irrigation.