Water Replenishment District of Southern California
The Water Replenishment District of Southern California serves more than 4 million people living in a 43-city region of south Los Angeles County. Formed in 1959, WRD is responsible for managing the Central and West Coast Groundwater Basins, which supply an average of 40 percent of the drinking water in its 420-square-mile service area.
The Water Replenishment District, along with its partners at Los Angeles County Public Works and Sanitation Districts, pioneered the use of indirect potable reuse for groundwater replenishment back in 1962 with the construction of a wastewater treatment facility that delivers water to the Montebello Forebay Spreading Grounds (see Pico Rivera 2).
Over a decades long journey, the Water Replenishment District continued to expand its use of recycled and purified recycled water for groundwater replenishment and preventing seawater intrusion. The Water Replenishment District now runs two advanced water purification facilities, the Albert Robles Center (see Pico Rivera 1) and the Leo J. Vander Lans Facility (see Long Beach 1).
Water from these two facilities, as well as the Water Replenishment District’s groundwater management practices, benefit two of the most utilised groundwater basins in the United States, the Central Groundwater Basin and the West Coast Groundwater Basin. Groundwater from these two basins meets nearly 50% of the water demands for the 4 million people residing in southern Los Angeles County.
