RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – On Friday, June 7, 2024, the Inland Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA/Agency) held a groundbreaking ceremony for its Exploratory Boring and Monitoring Well Project. This milestone marks a significant development for the Agency as it aims to enhance water supply reliability and resilience in the Inland Empire.
“This project underscores our proactive stance in facing the challenges of water management. California’s shifting weather patterns and cyclical droughts make the outlook uncertain for water supply. By better understanding our aquifer’s properties, we can tailor our water supply strategies to ensure long-term sustainability and reliability,” said Marco Tule, IEUA Board President. “As a regional leader, IEUA continues to work proactively on solutions that can keep pace with our growing service area and to support our communities’ health and well-being.”
The ceremony took place at one of the three project sites in Rancho Cucamonga. Representatives from IEUA, Chino Basin Watermaster, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the State Water Resources Control Board, and other program partners and supporters attended to celebrate the start of this vital water resource management project.
“This exciting project is about vital data and information. It is often said you can’t manage what you don’t measure, and this project provides a basis for enhanced management here in the Chino Basin,” said Joaquin Esquivel, Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. “Over the last five years, with the leadership of IEUA, the State Water Resources Control Board has been able to make significant investments for water recycling, stormwater retention, and other essential projects to gather data, build resiliency and help sustain through droughts, and I am proud of the partnerships among State and local leaders that enable these important projects to come to fruition.”
The Exploratory Boring and Monitoring Well Project involves strategic drilling at three sites to collect essential data on groundwater levels, quality, and trends. The wells will be used to gather soil data, depth-specific water samples, and measurements of aquifer properties such as permeability. By employing state-of-the-art boring techniques and monitoring systems, the data will effectively inform sustainable water management, compliance, and resource management practices for Chino Basin aquifers.
“The Chino Basin is one of the largest groundwater basins in Southern California and is one of the most important resources the region relies on for economic development,” said Edgar Tellez-Foster, Water Resources Director, Chino Basin Watermaster. “This project is key to tapping into the potential of the Chino Basin, taking a deeper look into the reliability and storage potential for the region’s water supplies.”
This Exploratory Boring and Monitoring Wells project is part of the larger series of projects known as the Chino Basin Program, a first-of-its-kind water initiative that moves beyond traditional water management practices to achieve new levels of water security, flexibility, and affordability. The Chino Basin Program consists of a series of projects that will shape and protect the future of water for the Inland Empire region.
“As we face increasingly dramatic swings in the availability of our imported water supplies, the Chino Basin Program can provide precisely the reliability we need for our communities,” said Adel Hagekhalil, General Manager, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “These new boring and monitoring wells will provide the data necessary to advance efforts to produce and store more purified recycled water – a climate-resilient water supply. I applaud these steps being taken by IEUA.”
For more information about the Chino Basin Program, visit chinobasinprogram.org.