A New Groundwater Storage Project Could Help Southern California In The Next Drought

The first stage of a new groundwater storage project in the Antelope Valley is now up and running after three years of construction.

The High Desert Water Bank, which is through a partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency (AVEK), has the capacity to store and withdraw enough water to serve about 210,000 Southern California homes each year.

The new facility can store 280,000 acre-feet of water, which is four times the capacity of Big Bear Lake, according to Metropolitan.

The water will come from the State Water Project, a 705-mile storage and delivery system that serves 27 million people across California. It will then be directed into recharge basins, which are essentially huge ponds that allow the water to slowly seep 200 feet down into the Antelope Valley groundwater basin. There will be a series of recovery wells or groundwater pumping wells in that basin for agencies to draw from when it’s needed.

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That means in wet years like this one, all that extra water can be saved. In dry or drought years, the water can be pumped back out and brought down into Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.

Kira Alonzo, a Metropolitan team manager and a lead on the project, said the new ground water storage facility is important for the region because “we’re all in this together.”

“Those dry years when we’re asking our Southern Californians to become more efficient in their water use, we’re doing everything that we can and making these investments to adapt,” she said.

The $211-million project is Metropolitan’s largest investment in groundwater storage ever, according to the agency. It’s been at least five years in the making, but the project is expected to be completed in early 2027.

Matthew Knudson, AVEK’s General Manager, said they’re going to continue to build new recharge basins and drilling 17 more recovery wells. Then, they’ll need to install pumps and motors for each of the wells. Knudson said another major component of the project will bring offsite power into the area to operate all of the 27 total new wells.

“From day one when I came to AVEK in June 2017, it’s been the primary project that staff has been working on,” he said. “So it’s great to see it actually in operation today and delivering water as we speak.”