Successful High Capacity Well Installed for Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Hayfield Groundwater Basin

Since the late 1970s, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California ("Metropolitan") has been investigating groundwater storage options in Mojave groundwater basins located along the Colorado River Aqueduct. Metropolitan has been conducting numerous field investigations and groundwater modeling studies to assist with facilities planning.

Todd Engineers installed the first two pilot production wells in the basin in 2002 and conducted an exploratory/test well program in 2003 to better define hydrogeologic conditions and aquifer parameters throughout the basin. Metropolitan decided to begin the extraction portion of the project with one prototype well that could provide more information on the productive capability of the Hayfield Basin aquifers.

Todd Engineers was retained to assist with the installation and testing of the full-scale prototype production well. The design intent of the prototype well was to extract approximately 100,000 acre-feet of water previously recharged to the area at a design capacity of 2,500 gallons per minute (gpm). The work included the well drilling, logging, design, installation, development, and testing.

The well was constructed using a combination of mild steel louver screen and stainless steel wire wrapped screen to maximize open area and conserve material costs. The well exceeded the design capacity of 2,500 gpm; aquifer testing indicated that the well is capable of producing approximately 3,500 gpm without significant decreases in specific capacity. Metropolitan is currently assessing how best to incorporate this new well into their system.