Groundwater Flow Modeling of the Arlington Basin to Evaluate Management Strategies for Expansion of the Arlington Desalter Water Production

Water supply reliability in Southern California is facing serious problems because of reduction in the availability of water from the State Water Project and Colorado River, drought, and growing concerns about environmental restoration. Groundwater sources supply more than fifty‐five percent of domestic demands in the Western Riverside County. Western Municipal Water District is planning to increase water supply reliability by expanding the Arlington Desalter production which requires additional groundwater pumping from the Arlington Basin. Western was concerned that increasing groundwater pumping will cause excessive decline in groundwater levels, leading to decreased yields at existing Desalter wells. Three‐dimensional groundwater flow model was developed for the Arlington Basin to investigate different water management strategies. Five groundwater management scenarios were run for a 30‐year time period. The five model runs were used to determine the feasibility of the Arlington aquifer system to supply groundwater to the Arlington Desalter over the 30‐year life of the facility. Model simulation results showed that long‐term groundwater pumping from the existing Desalter wells is not sustainable without artificial recharge. However two of the modeling scenarios which incorporated a combination of artificial recharge and new production wells, were shown to meet the increased Desalter yield requirements as well as minimize adverse impacts.