ABSTRACT
Recycled water represents a critical resource for satisfying growing water demands in arid Southern California. This paper presents an evaluation of the San Gabriel Valley Recycled Water Demonstration Project, located in Los Angeles County, California. Recharge of tertiary-treated recycled water into the San Gabriel groundwater basin is proposed in a 3 kilometer section of the San Gabriel River. We present an evaluation of the project based on proposed regulatory criteria, including maximum infiltration rates and percentage of recycled water at production wells. Field testing of infiltration rates was conducted with 8 test basins, and indicated that infiltration rates ranged from 1.5 to 15 meters per day. A multi-layer finite-element groundwater model was utilized using the CFEST code to simulate the migration of recycled water in groundwater and estimate the amount of recycled water at nearby production wells.
