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Local wells to protect water from rate hikes, terrorists
by Brian Simon
Water wells could be operating in El Segundo as soon as the end of next year, Mayor Mike Gordon said this week. The city is close to finalizing a long-term lease agreement with an unnamed private company that owns water rights in the city. Although he would not identify the lessor, Gordon expects the deal to be completed early next year.
Depending on the rights it gains, the city could build up to four wells to satisfy 25 to 50 percent of the community’s water needs.
The continued threat of domestic terrorist attacks has raised questions about El Segundo’s ability to be self-sufficient in the event of a disaster, natural or otherwise. If the city’s main water pipeline were knocked out, the community would be left with only a 48-hour supply of water.
"Having our own well would give us the ability to control our own supply," said Gordon. "In a natural disaster, it would be sufficient to sustain us. If terrorists were to target water supplies, they would go after the largest water systems."
Discussions about building water wells in El Segundo go back more than four years. The original impetus was financial. El Segundo gets its water from the West Basin Municipal Water District, which in turn obtains it from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). By 1997, MWD had raised its rates by 100 percent. At that time, then El Segundo city manager Jim Morrison was told by industry consultants to expect another 50 to 100 percent rate increase in the foreseeable future.
Morrison wondered if El Segundo could produce high-quality water wells like its neighbors in Manhattan Beach and Torrance. If so, the city could finally stabilize water rates while it ensures flow reliability and provide an emergency reserve. But local officials worried that years of oil drilling in the area might have tainted local water.
The city hired the consulting firm of Robert, Bein and Frost to set up a temporary well at Mariposa Avenue and Douglas Street to analyze the water underneath the aquifer (underground river). Initial tests revealed superior water quality. These results were confirmed by a leading public works expert from Downey, who said the water quality surpassed that of the MWD.
The city then identified a potential water well site at El Segundo and Aviation Boulevards, adjacent to Los Angeles Air Force Base. It bought the land at a reduced rate, but the project stalled. Though El Segundo has some water of its own, it must still acquire additional rights to pump the amount it needs to maintain a viable well system. The city initially wanted to purchase water rights outright. It sent letters to the nearly 200 owners of water rights in the district, but no one was willing to sell. Some owners were willing to lease the rights, but only for a year at a time. The city was not interested in a short-term deal, looking instead for the security of a 20- to 30-year lease agreement. It has taken over a year to find an acceptable arrangement.
City officials are slated meet with the prospective lessor in two weeks, according to El Segundo Public Works Director Andy Santamaria. "We gave them costs and financial data to help them determine rates at which they would lease us the rights," he said. If the deal proceeds, it should take less than a year to build the wells, he said. Santamaria added that the city would also need to buy or lease additional sites to house additional wells. ER