Water Festival Focuses on Education and Fun

• Santa Margarita Water District’s annual Fiesta de Agua Family Fun Day draws hundreds of local families to celebrate Water Awareness Month
• District partners with Boy Scouts of America to host event at Oso Reservoir in Rancho Santa Margarita

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. (May 6, 2008) – Many local residents don’t even know the Oso Reservoir exists, hidden in the hills of Rancho Santa Margarita.

Fiesta de Agua At-a-Glance Purpose: Water conservation and family festival Attendance: Approximately 1,000 local residents Location: Oso Reservoir, Rancho Santa Margarita Interesting Event Facts: Oso Reservoir holds 1.3 billion gallons of recycled water 1,200 hotdogs were served at the event SMWD’s use of recycled water for irrigation conserves over a billion gallons of drinking water each year

But they knew it on Saturday, when the reservoir and its surroundings came to life, with 1,000 residents and volunteers at Santa Margarita Water District’s annual Fiesta de Agua Family Fun Day water conservation festival.

Fiesta de Agua kicked off SMWD’s celebration of California Water Awareness Month and focused on teaching families the need for and benefits of water conservation. Visitors learned about practical ways to conserve water in and around the home through simple solutions like installing water-saving sprinkler systems and planting drought-tolerant landscaping.

This year’s event venue also provided an educational environment so families could learn the importance of vital water infrastructure facilities like Oso Reservoir. Guided nature hikes around the 125-acre man-made lake offered insights into how recycled water is used to conserve domestic (drinking) water supplies, while also highlighting the diverse natural environment of South Orange County.

This marked the first year the annual event was held at Oso Reservoir, at the Oso Lake Scout Camp which is leased and maintained by the Boy Scouts.

Children at SMWD’s Fiesta de Agua pet a Burmese python.

“This year we decided to host the event here to showcase our beautiful reservoir, highlight its importance for regional supply reliability and celebrate our partnership with the Boy Scouts of America,” SMWD Board of Directors president Roger Faubel explained.

Kids at the event also kept busy, creating giant bubbles at the Girls Scouts’ bubble booth and planting California-native flower seeds in self-painted pots. At a live reptile display, children got up close and personal with all sorts of creepy-crawlers, holding and petting lizards, snakes and a tarantula from Prehistoric Pets. Participants also enjoyed hotdogs, popcorn, snow cones, and drinks provided by SMWD.

A couple takes in the view at SMWD’s Oso Reservoir in Rancho Santa Margarita, the location of the 2008 Fiesta de Agua.

About Oso Reservoir
Oso Reservoir is one of the largest recycled water reservoirs in South Orange County and is located in the City of Rancho Santa Margarita. The man-made lake is capable of storing more than 1.3 billion gallons of recycled water for the region’s irrigation supply needs and is a critical component to the region’s supply reliability infrastructure.

About SMWD
SMWD is Orange County’s second-largest water district, serving a customer base of more than 150,000 residents and businesses in Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Coto de Caza, Las Flores and inland southern Orange County, including the communities of Ladera Ranch and Talega.

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