

(May 14, 2024)
Our new member Rob Katherman was elected in 2004 to the Water Replenishment District Board (https://www.wrd.org/) as Director of Division 2, including PV and the South Bay area. He has a BS in Civil Engineering, MS in Environmental Engineering, and MPA in Urban/Regional Planning. He has also been a Trustee of the PV Library District and Board member of the LA Harbor College Foundation and the Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park Advisory Board. He has been involved in land use planning, environmental impact analysis, and governmental and community relations.
The WRD serves 4 million residents in 43 cities in southern LA County, providing a reliable supply of high-quality local groundwater for almost half of the region’s water use. It monitors and tests groundwater, administers controlled pumping, water rights sales and leases, storage, and conversions. It owns 3 water treatment facilities: 2 advanced treatment facilities and a groundwater desalter. It also provides water education programs. Rob passed around a miniature version of a water filter, showing the filter layers.
The WRD was formed by popular vote in 1959 to protect groundwater resources and to avoid unregulated and unmanaged over-pumping that resulted in many water wells going dry. Along the coastline, groundwater levels dropped below sea level, allowing saltwater to intrude into the freshwater aquifers. The last 20 years have been the driest in the last 1000 years, so drought is the new normal. The short-term solution is water conservation, but in the long term we must reclaim local wastewater. Catchment basins (“un-paving” some of our runoff areas) can allow much more runoff water to be captured to replenish the aquifers.
The WRD has about 300 active-production water wells. It has water spreading grounds in Montebello and seawater barrier injection wells along the coast. Some salty groundwater can be cleaned up using reverse osmosis. Another new serious problem is contamination by PFAS (“forever chemicals”), from sources like pesticides, paints, nonstick cookware and stain resistant products. Safety regulations call for less than 1 part per trillion. Groundwater and surface water are being sampled for monitoring. Remediation must be quick to prevent closure of wells and preventing the spread of PFAS.
Rob discussed the geology in the LA water basin, with the prehistoric layers and history of uplift, sea level changes, and volcanic activity. The basin was originally below sea level with Palos Verdes being an uplifted island. Some layers are permeable (volcanic ash), and some are impermeable clay, so there are multiple layers of groundwater.