California neighborhood faces groundwater flooding
CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) — Water has been gushing out of the ground in a Southern California neighborhood for days, forcing residents to use pumps, hoses and sandbags to divert flows away from their properties.
The flooding began Sunday in the city of Claremont’s Stone Canyon development, impacting more than two dozen homes, KABC-TV reported.
“We started gathering pumps. We started digging holes to create sumps for the water to go down into,” said resident Ken Larson told the station.
Claremont lies east of Los Angeles at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, which received a huge amount of rain and snow this winter. A group of groundwater basins called Six Basins lies below the mountains along with San Antonio Dam, which captures runoff from the range.
The city said in a letter sent to residents on Tuesday that “abnormal groundwater seepage” was occurring.
“In response, staff was informed that the Six Basins Water Master is conducting spreading operations to recharge the groundwater levels from what appears to be water released from the San Antonio Dam,” the letter said. “Army Corps of Engineers records for the San Antonio Dam show a water level decrease of 20 feet within the last 15 days.”
The city is providing building inspections and making sand and sandbags available to homeowners, public information officer Bevin Handel said in an email to The Associated Press.
Handel said agencies responsible for managing groundwater were analyzing the situation and have not indicated a single main reason for the seepage.
“There are several factors that seem to be at play that are affecting the groundwater levels — the release of water from the dam into the basins and spreading grounds, the spreading ground operations, melting snow pack, and heavy saturation in the ground from the many recent rains,” Handel wrote.
Related News
From Archive
- U.S. water reuse boom to fuel $47 billion in infrastructure spending through 2035
- Major water pipe break in Puerto Rico hits over 165,000 customers
- Potomac River Tunnel project enters construction phase beneath Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Army Corps approves Enbridge's $500 million Line 5 Tunnel project
- Mexico accelerates $6.7 billion water infrastructure plan amid U.S. water disputes
- Glenfarne Alaska LNG targets late-2026 construction start for 807-mile pipeline project
- Pennsylvania American Water launches interactive map to identify, replace lead water service lines
- Trump's tariffs drive $33 million cost increase for Cincinnati sewer project
- CASE Launches New Equipment Configurator At CaseCE.com
- Utah city launches historic $70 million tunnel project using box jacking under active rail line
Comments