Safe Drinking Water ProgramYears of improper disposal practices of industrial solvents have allowed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to seep into southern Los Angeles County groundwater aquifers. As a result, some wells within the area served by the WRD have been adversely affected by these contaminants.
Pumping and treating these wells increase the rate at which these pollutants are removed from the groundwater supply, lessening the risk of this contamination migrating into other areas and affecting other wells. Wellhead treatment also reduces the dependence on scarce imported Northern California and Colorado River water by raising the capacity of groundwater pumping in the basins. The environment is improved through the removal of contaminants from the groundwater supply and basin management is augmented by preserving active production wells. The WRD Safe Drinking Water Program also makes local groundwater reserves available that would otherwise be lost to contamination. There are a total of eleven facilities online with several projects in various stages of completion. Click here for a 3.80MB PDF file of the WRD Safe Drinking Water Program Map |
To mitigate this problem, the WRD established a Safe Drinking Water Program as part of its Clean Water Program in 1991. This program began as a means to provide basin pumpers with wellhead treatment equipment to remove VOCs from the groundwater, allowing affected wells to meet public drinking water standards. The program promotes the cleanup of groundwater resources at specific well locations and is accomplished through partnerships with well owners. .gif)