FALLBROOK, Calif. -- A local water district is taking advantage of wasted water from a city miles away by tapping into a nearby river, 10News reported.

The Santa Margarita River flows out of the mountains across Riverside County and into Fallbrook.

"And if you follow the Santa Margarita River down towards the ocean, you quickly get on to Camp Pendleton," said Keith Lewinger of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.

The Fallbrook Public Utility District and the federal government plant to store the Santa Margarita River's water underground. The $150 million project would include a treatment plant and pipeline into Fallbrook.

"It doesn't have to come from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. It doesn't have to come from the Colorado River. It's coming from our local river right here," said Lewinger.

Fallbrook's share of the price tag would cost $60 million, but customers in the area pay $14 million a year to import 100 percent of the city's water. The Santa Margarita River could provide Fallbrook 40 percent of its water and 100 percent of Camp Pendleton's water.

"If we had this project right now, if it were in existence today, we wouldn't have to cut back at all," said Lewinger.

Fallbrook is counting on other people not cutting back on their water use. The Santa Margarita River is a collection of runoff from rain and front yards in Temecula.

"As long as people are watering and actually over-watering their lawns in Temecula, we get the benefit of that by having more water in the Santa Margarita River," said Lewinger.

Fallbrook is the only district capable of a project like this. No other river in San Diego County has groundwater basins where water could be stored, which means Fallbrook could be the only one to benefit from someone's wasted water.

"Well, I wish they wouldn't but we will benefit from it if they do," said Lewinger.

10News learned the project is still under review.

If all goes according to plan, the project could start generating local water by 2012.

The agreement between Fallbrook and Camp Pendleton resolves a 50-year-old dispute between the two areas over who had access to the Santa Margarita River.