Letter to the Hon. Assistant Secretary James and the Hon. Lieutenant General Semonite - Rep Lieu Leads LA Members Urging Army Corps of Engineers to Support Coastal Water Project

Letter

Dear Assistant Secretary James and Lieutenant General Semonite:

We write to express our strong support for West Basin Municipal Water District's $5 million funding request for the Harbor South Bay project within the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Fiscal Year 2020 Construction work plan.

The Harbor South Bay project, which is locally sponsored by the West Basin Municipal Water District (West Basin) located in coastal Los Angeles County, is an environmental infrastructure project which was originally authorized for $35 million in the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 and then modified in the America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 (AWIA) to $70 million.

Through West Basin's long-standing partnership with the Corps on this project, the amount of recycled water used throughout the region has significantly increased. To date, this effort has allowed West Basin to successfully construct more than twenty project laterals and pump stations with nearly 100 miles of combined pipelines, and aided in West Basin's recent achievement of delivering its 200 billionth gallon of recycled water. Drought, climate change, and a growing population continue to place a strain on the already scarce and fragile water supply. By increasing the project's authorization ceiling from $35 million to $70 million, the Corps/West Basin partnership will ensure the Los Angeles region has an adequate water supply to meet current and future demands.

Specifically, if the additional federal funding made available through the Harbor South Bay project modification is realized, it will result in the:

Completion of the recycled water pipeline delivery system by constructing ten new pipeline laterals which will benefit high-volume water users in the Harbor South Bay region;
Construction of additional satellite treatment facilities and pump stations in order to ensure water quality and meet the needs of individual water users; and
Expansion of the microfiltration capacity at the Edward C. Little Water Recycling Facility in order to maximize recycled water production, improve overall water quality, and increase local water reliability.
Once completed, the above activities will deliver an additional 13,975 acre-feet per year of drought-proof recycled water to the region.

The $5 million requested by West Basin for the FY 2020 work plan would extend the Caltrans 405/Figueroa Lateral and the North Gardena Lateral projects. Combined, these two projects will deliver approximately 25 acre-feet, or 8.3 million gallons of recycled water for use at a school, park, and highway related landscaping. These projects will require 4,700 feet of pipeline extensions and save enough drinking water to supply approximately 75 average households.

As such, we strongly request your support for the inclusion of $5 million in the FY 2020 work plan for the Harbor South Bay project which will allow West Basin to initiate and complete these two important lateral pipeline projects.

We appreciate your serious consideration of this high-priority project funding request. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like any additional information on the Harbor South Bay project. We look forward to working with you on this important project.

Sincerely,