Posted on 26 September 2012 by La Habra Journal
By Jay Seidel
La Habra Journal
The city of La Habra opened the valves to a new well at La Bonita Park Monday Sept 17, marking the second well in the city and helping save on water costs.
The new well will help to provide nearly 70 percent of the city’s water supply. With the new well providing that much water, the city will not have to purchase water from the Metropolitan Water District, the city can save up to $850,000 annually.
“The residents will really benefit from this well opening,” said Thom Coughran, director of public works for the city of La Habra.
Construction of the well, which pumps water at 8,000 gallons per minute, started last August, and the project was finally completed on August 20 of this year.
The well is pulling ground water from a depth of 1,000 feet. Engineers tested the ground water at 1200 feet but moved back to 1,000 feet to ensure quality.
Construction has already begun on the development of the city’s third well at Portola Park. According to Coughran, this well will further allow the city to decrease its dependency on expensive outside water sources.
Coughran estimated with the three well operations, the annual savings for the city will be around $1.5 million.
The third well is scheduled to be up and running around the end of the year.
The city has also been developing other measures to help increase savings on water expenses.
The replacement of many of the city’s water mains is nearly complete. Some of the mains were more than 65 years old.
Also, landscaping many areas of the city have been replaced with drought-tolerant plants.
“It’s a great thing for consumers, Coughran said.
