Rep. Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) Joins WRD at Groundbreaking Ceremony to Expand Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced Water Treatment Facility. (PRNewsFoto/Water Replenishment District of Southern California)

LAKEWOOD, CA, Jan. 28, 2013 -- Officials with the Water Replenishment District (WRD) were joined today by local dignitaries, including Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), to break ground on a project to put more recycled water to good use -- this time to act as a barrier to protect South Los Angeles County's critical groundwater supplies.

The latest WRD project will expand the agency's existing Leo J. Vander Lans Advanced Water Treatment Facility in Long Beach to more than double the amount of recycled water produced by the facility to 8,000 acre feet, or 2.6 billion gallons, per year. The facility takes treated recycled water (disinfected tertiary treated effluent) coming out of the Long Beach Water Reclamation plant and gives it an extra state-of-the-art "scrubbing" using microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet advanced oxidation. At the end of the day, the water coming out of the Vander Lans Facility is of near-distilled water quality.

"The advanced treated recycled water from an expanded Vander Lans plant will be used to protect our groundwater and drinking water supplies from seawater contamination," said Albert Robles, president of the elected WRD board of directors.

"It's a great project for the environment because it squeezes every last drop of value out of the water that's already in the area," continued Robles. "This project is part of the District's Water Independence Now, or WIN, Project which represents WRD's vision to be independent of imported water and for our groundwater basins to be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. With this project, WRD will have a reliable and safe source of water that's locally available."

WRD currently buys about 3,000 acre feet, or nearly 1 billion gallons, of water imported from Northern California or the Colorado River every year to keep the Alamitos Seawater Barrier intact. The barrier prevents seawater from intruding into and contaminating the underground groundwater basins.

WRD also recognized the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the California Department of Water Resources for their support as funding partners of the project. Additionally, special recognition was given to Mr. William Steele and Mr. Dennis Wolfe with the Bureau of Reclamation's Southern California office for their commitment and support of the Leo J. Vander Lans Facility over the past decade. 

About WRD

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban groundwater basins in the State of California. The service area is home to over ten percent of California's population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County. WRD is governed by a publicly elected Board of Directors which includes Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles. For more information, please visit WRD at www.wrd.org.

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