WRD Board Approves Landmark Master Plan To Expand Groundwater Supplies

Multi-agency effort identifies projects and strategies to increase use of recycled water and stormwater

Lakewood, CA /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - On Thursday, the Board of Directors of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) took a monumental step toward enhancing future groundwater supplies for two of the nation's most utilized urban groundwater basins by certifying the Groundwater Basins Master Plan (GBMP).

The GBMP establishes a long term vision and framework to enhance groundwater replenishment in the Central and West Coast basins by increasing the reliability of groundwater supplies, improving and protecting groundwater quality, and accommodating growing potable water demands.

"If fully implemented, the Groundwater Basin Master Plan could conceivably produce enough locally developed water to meet the total water demands of WRD's entire service area of 43 cities, eliminating our region's demand for water imported fromNorthern California and the Colorado River," said WRD Director Rob Katherman, Chair of the Water Resources Committee and member of the Groundwater Quality Committee.

WRD developed the GBMP to provide a single reference document for regional water providers that rely on the Central and West Coast groundwater basins. The GBMP identifies and evaluates specific projects and strategies that will increase replenishment and the beneficial use of recycled water and captured storm water. Increased replenishment will require increased use of existing percolation ponds, injection wells, and recovery facilities, expanded or upgraded recycled water treatment facilities, and the installation of new water infrastructure, including injection and extraction wells, conveyance pipelines, and pump stations.

"Just two weeks ago, WRD broke ground on one of the region's most important water projects, the Groundwater Reliability Improvement Project (GRIP), which will eliminate our need to import water to supplement existing groundwater replenishment," stated WRD Director Albert Robles, Chair of the Finance/Audit and Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Committees. "Already, we are working to transform this region of Los Angeles County, where over ten percent of the state's population resides, into one that will lead California into an entirely new level of water sustainability."

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban basins in the State of California. The service area is home to over ten percent of California's population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County. WRD is governed by a publicly elected Board of Directors which includes Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, John D. S. Allen, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.