A major piece of San Diego’s long-running Pure Water buildout has reached the finish line, bringing the Morena corridor closer to life after years of deep trenches, lane closures and orange cones. The city says the Morena Conveyance South & Middle project now has its core infrastructure in place, with only minor work and performance testing remaining.
The City of San Diego’s Friday Facebook update said construction tied to the project has been completed and highlighted before-and-after photos showing the transformation along the pipeline route. The next major step is testing the system’s performance before it moves toward regular operation.
What San Diego built beneath the streets
The project installed roughly 36,170 linear feet of 48-inch wastewater force main and another 36,170 linear feet of 30-inch welded-steel brine conveyance pipeline, according to the City’s project fact sheet. Together, the pipelines connect the Morena Pump Station near Bay Park with the northern pipeline alignment in University City.
The route runs through portions of Bay Park, Bay Ho, Morena and Clairemont, including Morena Boulevard, Milton Street, Clairemont Drive, Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and Genesee Avenue. The project began in October 2022 and was designed alongside new bike-lane improvements in several areas affected by construction.
Testing comes before the waterworks begin
The milestone does not mean purified drinking water is already flowing through the new lines. Performance testing, final checks and remaining restoration work must be completed before the conveyance system can support its intended role moving wastewater north to the North City Water Reclamation Plant and Pure Water Facility.
Once fully online, the system is expected to convey about 30 million gallons of wastewater per day for treatment and purification. The broader Pure Water San Diego program is intended to provide nearly half of the city’s water supply locally by 2035 while reducing treated discharges from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A long-awaited change for Morena-area streets
The construction milestone arrives after a difficult stretch for nearby residents and businesses. In April, 10News reported that Bay Park business owners blamed lane closures, parking disruptions and traffic problems for driving away customers and forcing some staff-hour cuts.
With the underground work finished, the project’s visible finale will be less dramatic but more useful: testing, paving, striping, bike-lane work and other restoration that can return the corridor to something closer to normal. San Diego’s biggest water-supply bet is still being built in stages, but this is the part neighbors can finally see coming back above ground.
