Ozone Project Unveiled at Water Treatment Plant

City dignitaries on Monday cut the ribbon on the Cater Water Treatment Plant’s new Ozone Project, a $23 million venture that cuts way back on the amount of chlorine used to disinfect water that flows into Santa Barbara, Montecito, and Carpinteria homes. The project, which will use ozone to disinfect water at a specific point on the process, has been in the works for over a decade and was put into place to comply with new drinking water regulations that lower the allowable level of disinfection byproducts. It was completed with a loan from the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund that will be repaid over the next 20 years.