Los Angeles Briefs: MLK Hospital Policy Update and WRD Awarded Grant for Brackish Groundwater Cleanup

CD15 Policy Update MLK Hospital

LOS ANGELES — On June 11 councilmember Tim McOsker introduced a resolution to support any measures that allocate emergency state funding to prevent the closure of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital’s maternity ward. Recently, in an effort to avoid this dire situation, Assemblymember Mike Gipson and State Senator Steven Bradford proposed $25 million in state funding to be awarded to Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital to stave off the closure of its maternity ward. 

“We must support the hospital and prevent this closure to avoid exacerbating healthcare disparities, impacting maternal and infant health outcomes, and leaving the community without essential care services,” Counilmember McOsker said.

Water Replenishment District Awarded $25 Million WaterSMART Grant For Brackish Groundwater Cleanup

LOS ANGELES — The Water Replenishment District or WRD has been awarded a $25 million WaterSMART grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation for the construction of a groundwater desalination project – the largest desalination grant awarded in this round.

This project will increase the locally sustainable drinking water supply for the South Bay by doubling the capacity of WRD’s Desalter located in the city of Torrance. The Torrance groundwater desalter expansion project will be designed to extract and purify approximately 10 million gallons a day from a salty groundwater plume. The removal of this salty groundwater will create groundwater storage capacity for excess local freshwater and recycled water for the region to use in future drought years.

The saline plume located under the South Bay is the result of the over-extraction of groundwater in the early 1900s. This caused seawater to intrude into the groundwater basin where it mixed with freshwater; making that groundwater too salty to be used. The expansion will create a new source of clean drinking water for the region.

Details: www.wrd.org/brackish-groundwater-reclamation-program.