Dateline Torrance – Members of the Water Replenishment Board and Torrance city officials tomorrow will kick off a $22.5 million project to double the output of a water treatment facility that daily pumps millions of gallons of brackish (salty) water out of the groundwater basin and purifies it for domestic use.

This facility was built by the Water Replenishment District of Southern California, and it is operated by the city of Torrance.

The Goldsworthy Desalter is already the largest plant in Los Angeles County dedicated to regularly de-salting brackish groundwater to make it suitable for domestic consumption, and now it’s going to get bigger.

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California originally built Goldsworthy in 2001. It was a pilot project to begin the cleanup of billions and billions of gallons of seawater that partially infiltrated groundwater-bearing aquifers underlying the coastal areas of south Los Angeles County, including the Silverado aquifer beneath the city of Torrance. That massive infiltration had occurred several decades earlier.

The Water Replenishment board  approved the plan to double Goldsworthy’s capacity, from 2.5 million to 5 million gallons per day. The project will cost $22.5 million, with state drought funding of $7 million covering almost one-third of the cost.

The Water Replenishment District is responsible for managing the quality and quantity of the groundwater supplies that provide 40 percent of the water used by 4 million residents who live in 43 cities in south Los Angeles County and in nearby unincorporated areas. The cities served by the District include Los Angeles, Long Beach, Carson, Pico Rivera, Lakewood, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Palos Verdes Estates, South Gate and Compton.

“The existing Goldsworthy Desalter project already helps our region achieve a significant degree of independence from imported water,” said District General Manager Robb Whitaker. “Now we’re doubling down on that effort.

“Water imported from Northern California and the Colorado River is increasingly expensive and can be interrupted by the drought,” said Mr. Whitaker.

“By treating this brackish water to create a drinking water supply, we are reducing our dependence on imported water. That independence helps ensure that our water supplies remain affordable and reliable.”

By treating and removing this brackish water from the ground, the Water Replenishment District is making room in the agency-managed aquifers for the storage of additional fresh groundwater.

The water treated at Goldsworthy is not as salty as seawater but it is too salty to drink.

The de-salting project works like this: Wells pump brackish water from the groundwater aquifer. That water is piped to Goldsworthy where it is treated with reverse osmosis technology. The treated water is used by the city of Torrance’s municipal water system, providing enough water yearly to serve almost 50,000 residents. Once treated, this water is of very high quality and exceeds all federal and state drinking water standards.

Mr. Schwada may be contacted at john.schwada@gmail.com