President's Message
Continuing on the Path to Water Reliability
Reliable Water is Valuable Water
In a thriving region of over one million residents, miles of coastline, bustling businesses and residential neighborhoods, West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) continues to provide a reliable supply of high quality water to our communities. Ensuring reliable water for our current needs and future generations is what drives West Basin’s Water Reliability 2020 (WR2020) program. West Basin has set the goal of creating 50 percent more water locally through water conservation, water recycling and ocean-water desalination. We continue to increase the number of recycled water pipelines; build relationships with local, water-wise businesses; install community ocean-friendly gardens; and so much more.
Conservation (water use efficiency) efforts continue to make great strides and I’m proud to say more than 370 business have partnered with West Basin to install water savings devices to date. Through our high efficiency toilet exchange program 14,000 residents have replaced older water wasting toilets with newer water efficient units. In March, West Basin will kick off another successful year of partnering with Home Depot to promote native plants and landscaping through events at stores throughout West Basin’s service area. This year will also bring nine new ocean-friendly gardens to our communities, proving that water wise gardens are also beautiful gardens. Two ocean-friendly gardens have already been installed, one at Los Angeles County Fire Station 171, and another at Redondo Union High School with the help of students participating in a sustainable gardening, hands-on workshop.
This year construction at our Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility will produce an additional 16 million gallons per day of recycled water. This additional water will be used for commercial and industrial use, while reducing the amount of pollution reaching the Santa Monica Bay. Thanks to the fourth expansion of our facility, we will soon be able to provide 100 percent recycled water to the West Coast Basin Seawater Barrier, protecting local ground water supplies from seawater intrusion. Additionally, the new Torrance Booster Pump Station now provides 1,100 gallons per minute of needed recycled water for public facilities, irrigation and business use, saving precious drinking water supplies.
Ocean-water desalination research continues as we strive to find the most cost-efficient and best technology to protect 100 percent of adult, juvenile and mature larvae in the desalination process. We believe desalination will be an important part of our future drinking water supplies and have committed to testing the latest technology including wedge wire screens, energy recovery devices and nano membranes. Our adjacent Water Education Center is open for free tours and I encourage you to come take a tour to see the desalination process first hand.
Value is at the center of West Basin’s mission and vision, and we are proud to say that today our WR2020 program has more than 10,000 supporters, like you, who believe in West Basin’s commitment to invest in the right programs and projects to ensure a reliable water future.
Thanks to your efforts and our Board of Directors’ vision, together we can protect one of our most valuable natural resources for a sustainable water future.
Carol W. Kwan
Board President
INCREASE YOUR H2O I.Q.
We are proud to serve beautiful coastal Los Angeles and it will be your participation in caring for our water future that will keep this community flourishing.
· Landscape and Gardening Programs:
- West Basin’s conservation webpage is regularly updated with upcoming events like our Hands-On Workshops (HOWs) to create Ocean Friendly Gardens, Landscape Irrigation Efficiency Program (LIEP), which inspect for water-wasting problems in your yard, and Turf’s Up, which provides rebates for property owners who remove turf and replace it with water-efficient landscaping.
· Ocean Water Desalination and Water Recycling Tours:
- Our water recycling facility in El Segundo is open for tours the second Saturday of every month at 9:30 am, and the ocean water desalination facility in Redondo Beach is open Tuesday through Saturday. Call (310) 660-6211 to schedule your tour today.
· Water 101 Classes:
- Classes are open to the public and will help you discover more about the international, national, and local future of water. Classes are offered on the first Thursday of every other month. Email: courtneys@westbasin.org to sign up for future a class.