Going with flow: How the Santa Cruz water treatment plant took on January’s storms
January’s relentless storms brought power outages, floods, landslides and falling trees. But Santa Cruz residents had one critical resource they never had to worry about — clean drinking water. … Santa Cruz draws drinking water from multiple surface water sources. It’s a complex system and it keeps the operators on their toes, especially during storms. … Loch Lomond Reservoir, which is held by the Newell Creek Dam, holds about one year’s worth of drinking water supply. That supply, which workers sometimes refer to as “the lake,” can be pulled in for treatment as needed, but operators try to use other sources first. “We kind of look at the lake as it’s a reserve for the dry years,” said Ben Curson, a water treatment operator.