South Bay Water Officials Plan Desalination Plant

Water officials are hoping to build a small desalination plant in Torrance as part of an effort to purge South Bay aquifers of briny water and at the same time gird the region against drought.

The $3.5-million demonstration plant would filter salty ground water by reverse osmosis and produce 1.3 million gallons of drinking water a day--enough, water officials say, to supply about 2,400 households.

Being organized by the West Basin Municipal Water District, the project is part of an effort by the regional water agency to reclaim saltwater that has seeped into South Bay water basins and forced the closure of dozens of wells. Los Angeles County recently completed a $10-million project to upgrade high-pressure coastal barriers in an effort to halt further intrusion, but officials estimate that 20% of the South Bay’s water supplies are contaminated by the briny plume.