Water Replenishment District and West Basin Team Up to Reduce Reliance on Imported Water and Use 100% Recycled Water in Seawater Intrusion Barrier

Project Will Save Millions of Gallons of Drinking Water

CARSON, CALIF ? The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) and the West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) today signed a historic agreement to supply 100% of a seawater barrier with recycled water, eliminating the need for imported water. By using recycled water where imported drinking water has historically been used, the project will save 5.5 billion gallons of drinking water each year, enough to serve 136,000 people for one year.

"The project is a great example of public agency partnerships and cooperation that bring value and benefit to the communities we serve. Without this agreement between WRD and West Basin this project would not be built," said Albert Robles, President of the Board of Directors of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.

"West Basin is a world leader in producing various types of recycled water, and it is appropriate that we are the agency to bring the seawater barrier supply to 100% recycled water," said Edward C. Little, President of the Board of Directors of the West Basin Municipal Water District.

West Basin will provide the water to WRD for use at the West Coast Basin Barrier, operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. The water injected into the barrier under pressure holds back the ocean and prevents it from contaminating local groundwater supplies. This water additionally replenishes drinking water aquifers.

The barrier is currently supplied with 75% recycled water and 25% imported water. Converting the barrier to 100% recycled water will free up much needed drinking water and save energy over importing water from Northern California.

"Southern California water agencies are squeezing all their water sources to become more independent of imported water," said West Basin Vice President Gloria D. Gray. "This is a great example of replacing imported water with recycled water made in our own backyard."

"These two water agencies are leading all Southern California water agencies in the direction of independence from imported water to help themselves, to help Southern California and to help the State of California as a whole," said WRD Vice President Rob Katherman.

West Basin will expand its Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility for the fifth time to produce the additional purified water for the recycled water barrier. The facility has been expanded four times in the past to provide recycled water to more than 200 sites throughout the South Bay. WRD has been a partner with West Basin since the first phase was built. The Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility takes wastewater that would otherwise be sent to the ocean and, through advanced water purification technologies, makes five types of "designer" waters, the only facility in the world to do so. These five types of water range from water for use in irrigation to ultra-pure water for high and low pressure boiler feeders, cooling towers and the seawater barrier, which meets all drinking water standards.

WRD manages two of the most heavily used groundwater basins in the state of California and therefore plays a significant role in providing groundwater to southern Los Angeles County. WRD manages groundwater for nearly four million residents in 43 cities of southern Los Angeles County. The 420 square mile service area uses about 250,000 acre-feet of groundwater per year, which equates to nearly 40% of the total demand for water in that area. WRD?s goal is to be completely independent of imported water for groundwater replenishment. WRD is governed by a 5 member Board of Directors. President Robles and Vice President Katherman are joined on the board by Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Willard H. Murray, Jr.

West Basin Municipal Water District is committed to water reliability, water quality, sound financial and resource management, customer service and environmental stewardship. West Basin is a recognized, international leader in the production of recycled water and has won several awards for its leadership, water recycling and water resource management. West Basin provides more than 30 million gallons of recycled water throughout the South Bay each day, replacing enough precious drinking water to supply 60,000 households annually. President Little and Vice President Gray are joined on the Board of Directors by Ronald C. Smith, Carol W. Kwan and Donald L. Dear. For more information, visit www.westbasin.org and www.wrd.org.