Water Replenishment District receives grant funding for desal project

The Bureau of Reclamation has awarded a $25 million WaterSMART grant to the Water Replenishment District (WRD) for the construction of a groundwater desalination project. WRD says the project will significantly increase local drinking water supply for the South Bay by doubling the capacity of WRD’s Desalter located in the city of Torrance.

The Torrance Groundwater Desalter Expansion project will be designed to extract and purify approximately 10 million gallons a day from a salty groundwater plume. The removal of this salty groundwater will create groundwater storage capacity for excess local freshwater and recycled water for the region to use in future drought years.

The saline plume located under the South Bay is the result of the over-extraction of groundwater in the early 1900s. This caused seawater to intrude into the groundwater basin where it mixed with freshwater; making that groundwater too salty to be used. The expansion will create a new source of clean drinking water for the region.

Joy Langford, President of the WRD Board, expressed her gratitude and optimism for the project, stating “This grant underscores WRD’s commitment to sustainable water management and will continue our efforts to ensure a reliable and resilient water future for southern Los Angeles County.”