DWP to Spend $224,000 for Wells in Water Filtering Study : Resources: Officials hope to find out how sand and gravel cleanse effluent.

Los Angeles water officials on Thursday agreed to spend $224,000 to drill a series of test wells near Griffith Park as part of an effort to use reclaimed waste water to replenish ground water in the San Fernando Valley.

The contract approved by the Department of Water and Power’s board of commissioners is part of a two-year study to determine the ability of sand and gravel to cleanse water. In the study, waste water will be allowed to filter through the soil, then be extracted from the test wells and analyzed.

The pilot study “explores a new possibility for augmenting the city’s potable drinking water supply,” board President Michael J. Gage said in a prepared statement.

The contract was awarded to Ari-Cal Pump Supply, Inc., of Blythe.

The study calls for diverting 650,000 gallons per day of Los Angeles River water--most of it treated effluent from the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the Sepulveda Basin. The water will be pumped out of the river channel near Griffith Park and pumped into the DWP’s Headworks spreading grounds, which has been used to percolate water from storms into the ground.

The extraction wells will be drilled downhill from the spreading grounds to intercept the water before it blends with underground water supplies. The water will be pumped out and tested before being returned to the river. Water officials will thus be able to learn more about the ability of soil to filter out impurities.

Officials say the Tillman plant produces high-quality effluent that meets some drinking water standards. They hope the use of reclaimed water may allow greater reliance in the future on wells in the North Hollywood and Griffith Park areas that provide about 15% of the city’s drinking water.

The Headworks study is one of several water reclamation projects in various stages of development. Some involve use of the Tillman effluent for irrigation water only.

But DWP officials recently unveiled a plan to deliver millions of gallons of reclaimed water each day to spreading grounds in the Pacoima and Sun Valley area. Under state health guidelines, officials would have to spread four gallons of rainwater or other surface water for every gallon of reclaimed water used. The water would take several years to seep downhill to well fields in North Hollywood.

The operation could begin by 1995 and eventually involve as many as 45 million gallons of reclaimed water per day.