Features Sustainability Water Issues
Calif. district to produce 8M gallons recycled water per day

Jan. 6, 2015, Lakewood, CA – The Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced
Water Treatment Facility in the Water Replenishment District of Southern California has been expanded from producing three million gallons of treated waste water per day to producing eight
million gallons.

Jan. 7, 2015, Lakewood, CA – The Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced
Water Treatment Facility in the Water Replenishment District of Southern California has been expanded from producing three million gallons of treated waste water per day to producing eight
million gallons.

"Today marks an historic moment for the Water Replenishment District of Southern California
and for the four million residents in our service area who rely on our
ground water supply for daily life," said Water Replenishment District (WRD) board president Sergio Calderon, in a news release.
"With the expanded Leo J. Vander Lans Treatment facility online, the
recycled water we now produce brings us ever closer to our goal of 100 per cent
independence from expensive and unreliable imported water."

In
addition to the increase of five million gallons of recycled water that
will be produced each day, the plant has now further reduced waste and
raised overall recovery from 77 to 92 per cent.

The
Alamitos Barrier that currently protects the ground water in the Central
Basin from coastal salt water intrusion will now use 100 per cent recycled water
produced from the water rreatment facility. As water pumpers extract water from the
Central Basin, natural water pressures that keep salt water from entering
into and contaminating the ground water basin are reduced. Consequently,
millions of gallons of fresh water needs to be injected into the ground
to serve as a barrier and hold back salt water contamination. The
expansion project means that WRD will not need to utilize any imported
water in the Alamitos Barrier, thus reducing the district's reliance on water
imported from northern California. 

"WRD is not just breaking new ground, but leading the water industry
into a sustainable future that will shield us from future droughts like
the one we are currently facing," said WRD board treasurer Albert Robles in the release.

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is
the regional ground water management agency that protects and preserves the
quantity and quality of ground water for two of the most utilized urban basins
in the State of California. The service area is home to over four million
residents across 43 cities, nearly half of Los Angeles County.