VAN NUYS : Water Project Gets Initial Federal Funds

Los Angeles city officials received the first in a series of federal payments Friday to help fund construction of a $55-million water reclamation and conservation project in the San Fernando Valley designed to boost city water reserves and reduce the amount of water diverted from Mono Lake in Northern California.

At the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant inside the Sepulveda Basin in Van Nuys, Councilwoman Ruth Galanter accepted a symbolic, oversized check for $12.8 million from Daniel P. Beard, commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The federal funds will be augmented by $36 million in state funds and $6 million from the city’s Department of Water and Power.

The money will be used to construct a water reuse program to replace water previously diverted from Mono Lake. The 60-square-mile lake, long a favorite of naturalists and conservationists, is east of Yosemite National Park. It once supplied about 20% of the city’s water needs, reducing the lake’s water level by 40 feet.

A major part of the city’s reclamation plan is a 13-mile pipeline to be built from the Tillman water reclamation facility north to two spreading grounds--large fields where it can percolate down through 300 feet of naturally filtering soil. Eventually, over a five-year period, city officials said, the water will travel a distance of 1.5 miles to where it will be reclaimed by a series of wells.

When the water is pumped from the wells, it will be treated again before being placed into the city’s water distribution system, officials said.

“This project came about as a result of a landmark decision made by the state Water Resources Control Board last September,” said Martha Davis, director of the Mono Lake Committee, a citizens water conservation group.

“The board set out a protection plan for Mono Lake that restricted the amount of water Los Angeles could divert from streams feeding the lake,” she said. “The city’s new reclamation program will help protect the lake and build crucial water reserves for the city during drought periods.”

In addition to the East Valley project, the city plans similar projects in West Los Angeles, near Los Angeles International Airport and at Terminal Island near Long Beach, eventually providing the city with 150,000 acre-feet of water per year, officials said. An acre-foot of water is enough to supply two average-size families for one year.