Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard and area officials visited the drilling site of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California’s (WRD) deep groundwater monitoring well in the City of Bell at the Nueva Vista Elementary School’s parking lot located across from the Bell Community Center at 6250 Pine Avenue.
Also joining the congresswoman were officials from the United States Geological Survey, a long-time WRD partner in constructing the network of groundwater monitoring wells; United States Bureau of Reclamation, the funding agency for the well; and the Los Angeles Unified School District, a vital stakeholder which provided the site for the monitoring well.
The congresswoman worked with WRD to secure almost $400,000 in federal funds for this project which is specifically being sited in an area to ensure that water quality and water level data are closely monitored in this part of the District’s 420-square mile service area. In the congresswoman’s 34th Congressional District, WRD services the following communities: Bell; Bellflower; Bell Gardens; Commerce; Cudahy; Downey; Huntington Park; Florence; Maywood; Vernon; and Walnut Park.
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard said: “This monitoring well will enable WRD to evaluate trends in water and basin conditions to ensure that there is compliance with the national water drinking standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. By detecting groundwater contamination, this well will help ensure the primary source of our drinking water is safe and reliable for the health and well-being of our families. It will also be critical to helping us keep rates low by decreasing dependence on imported water from Northern California and
The congresswoman with WRD staff members pictured in the photo from left to right: Pam Wareham; Ted Johnson; Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard; Adeline Yoong; Elsa Lopez; Peter Piestrzeniewicz; and Tony Kirk.
the Colorado River. As you know, due to our state’s current drought conditions, Southern California is already experiencing cutbacks in imported water, which, even when available, is expensive. This project, which is one of many monitoring wells around the Southland, is crucial to Southern California as our region continues to face drought conditions in the future.”
In March of 2008, WRD honored the congresswoman with its Groundwater Ambassador Award for her ongoing efforts to secure federal funding for its water projects.
WRD Division 4 Director Sergio Calderon, who is also a councilmember in the city of Maywood, said: “The construction of the deep groundwater monitoring well in the City of Bell furthers WRD’s larger effort to protect groundwater in southern Los Angeles County. We are grateful to the congresswoman for her support of this and other WRD projects.”
The congresswoman pictured with staff members of the U.S. Geological Survey from left to right: Anthony Brown; Laurel Rogers; Steven Crawford; James Huckaby; Congresswoman Roybal-Allard (CA-34); Gregory Lutwack; Joseph Nawikas; Kevin Coy; and Eric Reichard.
When completed, the groundwater monitoring well will be over a third of a mile deep, tapping various water bearing aquifers to provide important information on the area’s groundwater supply. The well will become a part of the District’s extensive monitoring well network under the Regional Groundwater Monitoring Program which can evaluate the quantity of water in the aquifers and monitor water quality trends to assure compliance with drinking water standards. Information collected from WRD’s existing network of 247 monitoring wells at 53 locations is used to develop a thorough understanding of groundwater conditions in the Central and West Coast Basins.
This information is vital as the population in California grows and outside water supplies steadily decrease. Development of groundwater storage programs can help “drought-proof” the basin as excess water is stored during wet years and extracted during periods of drought. By protecting the quality of groundwater in WRD’s service area and hence maximizing the use of local water resources, the WRD Regional Groundwater Monitoring Program can help reduce this region’s reliance on imported waterfrom northern California and the Colorado River basin.
Created by voters in 1959, Water Replenishment District of Southern California is a regional groundwater management agency serving more than 10% of the State’s population in 43 cities in a 420-square mile area that comprises the urban core of Los Angeles. Forty percent of the total water supply in its service area comes from groundwater. WRD protects and preserves the groundwater through its clean water projects, water supply programs, and effective basin management practices.
