WRD Builds Newest Groundwater Monitoring Well in Manhattan Beach

Nearly 300 Wells Covering 420-Square Miles

LAKEWOOD, Calif., Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Water Replenishment District (WRD) is starting construction of its newest groundwater monitoring well on the grounds of Manhattan Unified School District headquarters.  The 1,800-foot- deep groundwater monitoring well is the latest to be installed by WRD, bringing the District's total number of groundwater monitoring wells to nearly 300 across its 420-square mile service area.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110121/DC34153LOGO)

The monitoring well will be one of the deepest wells to explore the area beneath the South Bay and is the first WRD well to be constructed in the City of Manhattan Beach. Data collected from the well will provide information on the water levels and water quality in the aquifers in this portion of the South Bay, including a check on a persistent problem with seawater intrusion. The construction project will take approximately one month to complete.

Once completed, the well will become part of the District's extensive monitoring well network under WRD's Regional Groundwater Monitoring Program.  Information collected from the District's existing network of nearly 300 monitoring wells in over 50 locations is used to develop a thorough understanding of groundwater conditions in the Central and West Coast Basins. Results of groundwater efforts are published and reported annually through its Regional Groundwater Monitoring Report.

Along with WRD, the United Stated Geological Survey (USGS) will be a partner in the construction of the well and will utilize the data to better understand the region's geological landscape. USGS has worked with WRD at nearly all of the District's well sites since 1990. This joint effort has provided valuable geological mapping and computer modeling of the Central and West Coast Basins which has resulted in better water resources management practices.  

"The addition of the Manhattan Beach monitoring well will further enhance the District's groundwater monitoring efforts in the West Coast and Central Basins," said WRD Board President Sergio Calderon. "It will allow us to better understand the aquifers and see how we can better utilize them."

"Accurate information about our groundwater supply and quality is vital as the reliability of our imported water supplies steadily decrease," stated District Director Rob Katherman, Chairman of WRD's Water Resource Committee. "These monitoring wells are our 'eyes' into our local groundwater aquifer so that we can better manage, protect and replenish them for future use."

"The addition of the Manhattan Beach monitoring well, is further evidence of WRD's expanding monitoring efforts," commented WRD Board President Sergio Calderon. "The fact that we have nearly 300 wells in more than 50 locations is proof of our fifty year long commitment to monitoring the region's groundwater."

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 basins in the State of California, with a service area that is home to over ten percent of California's population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County with a publicly elected Board of Directors including Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.

For more information about the Water Replenishment District, please visit www.wrd.org

SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California