One of WRD’s programs within the West Coast Basin is the West Coast Basin Desalination Program.  This program addresses the “saline plume” (stranded seawater) that was trapped inland of the West Coast Barrier (a freshwater injection barrier along the coastline, owned and operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works and injected with water purchased by WRD).  West Coast Barrier operations initiated in the 1950s, and the saline plume has slowly migrated inland of the Barrier since that time.  Currently, WRD operates a desalination facility overlying the saline plume, which extracts water exhibiting relatively high chloride concentrations, treats it to drinking water quality and adds it to the local water supply distribution system.

WRD recently conducted an extensive field assessment of an inactive production well located near the existing desalination facility, to determine the suitability of the well’s water quality for annexation to the desalination facility.  The field program included a month-long pumping test, wellhead sampling, velocity logging and depth-discrete sampling.  While results indicated that the well water may not be suitable for the current desalination facility configuration, the field assessment provided valuable data for refining the delineation of the plume and determining future plume cleanup strategies.