Perris, CA (March 6, 2023) — Eastern Municipal Water District is celebrating National Groundwater Awareness Week by highlighting its commitment to using groundwater within its service area as part of its Groundwater Reliability Plus initiative.

EMWD has a robust portfolio of groundwater projects and is continually expanding its groundwater infrastructure to help meet the needs of its growing communities with this valuable local water supply.

EMWD was originally founded in 1950 to help area landowners manage groundwater rights in the San Jacinto Valley. Since then, EMWD has grown to become the state’s sixth-largest retail water agency and currently serves nearly 1 million people across 558 square miles.

EMWD has been proactive in managing its local groundwater supplies to ensure long-term water quality and supplies. This includes proactively initiating many of the steps that are now part of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Act for agencies to ensure sustainability of local groundwater basins.

In the coming years, EMWD will continue to advance projects aimed at ensuring high-quality groundwater supplies are available for future generations. This includes:

• EMWD’s planned Purified Water Replenishment program, which will advance clean recycled water and use it to replenish the groundwater basin in the San Jacinto Valley. That water will eventually be used as safe and reliable drinking water.
• The continued work on EMWD’s Perris North Groundwater Program, which will clean up groundwater in the Moreno Valley area and provide a safe water supply for thousands of households each year.
• Continued management of EMWD’s groundwater desalination program, which removes salts from the local groundwater basin and produces a reliable water source for tens of thousands of households each year.

“EMWD is committed to successfully managing our local groundwater supplies to ensure reliability for our region for many generations to come,” EMWD Board President Phil Paule said. “We are proud of the role that groundwater plays in supporting our region’s water supplies and of the investments we are making to ensure it is sustainable for the future.”

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Eastern Municipal Water District is the water, wastewater service and recycled water provider to nearly one million people living and working within a 558-square mile service area in western Riverside County. It is California’s sixth-largest retail water agency, and its mission is “To deliver value to our diverse customers and the communities we serve by providing safe, reliable, economical and environmentally sustainable water, wastewater and recycled water services.” More information can be found at www.emwd.org.