Construction will start later this year on two new water wells at Stearns Champions Park in East Long Beach as part of the water department’s plan to upgrade equipment across the city in an effort to supply cheaper groundwater to customers.
Long Beach gets about 60% of its annual water supply from local groundwater wells, and the Long Beach Water Department has plans to install or rehabilitate over 20 wells across the city in the coming years.
Stearns Park has three existing wells, but the newest of the three was drilled in the 1940s while the other two are over 100 years old. At the end of the project, the park would have a total of four wells because the department intends to demolish one of the older, less efficient ones, the department said. The new wells are expected to have a lifespan of about 90 years.
The new wells will be along the northern boundary of the park on 23rd Street, with a new well being installed west of the community center building and a second well replacing an existing one that is just east of E. De Ora Way, the small road that cuts through the park.
The water department held a community meeting Thursday night at Stearns Park where some residents voiced concerns about the duration of the project, how it would affect traffic in the neighborhood and the overall need for it.
The department said the new wells could have the capacity to pump about 2,500 gallons of water per minute. One of the existing wells is pumping about 277 gallons per minute, according to the department.
Some attendees, including Councilmember Daryl Supernaw, asked why those locations were picked instead of an area closer to the park’s center where construction noise would be farther away from homes and neighboring schools.
“It saves us time and money,” said LBWD General Manager Chris Garner. “We want to get as close to the distribution site as possible.”
Russel Kyle, a hydrologist hired by the department to oversee the project, explained that putting the wells closer to the park’s core would require the department to then dig trenches for pipes to connect the pumps to existing pipes located along 23rd Street, which would disrupt a larger portion of the park.
One of the largest concerns voiced by residents was the fact that installing the wells will require two five-week periods where there will be 24-hour drilling and other construction activity. Having the wells located on the edge of the park had some worried about construction noise.
Department officials pointed to a recent project in Jackson Park where it installed two wells but used 24-foot sound walls to block the noise. Kyle said the walls would take up a footprint of about 100 feet by 150 feet for the duration of the installation and won’t block access to the sidewalks around the park.
The walls at each site would stay up for about three months before coming down, and the department said it would reduce construction noise to 50-60 decibels, which it said is similar to the hum of an air conditioner or a conversation. Plus, drilling down the required 1,000 feet to reach the water table might not take five full weeks.
Zeki Kayiran, a consultant on the project, said that the drills could do about 50 to 100 feet per day, which means it could take between 10 and 20 days to conclude the drilling portion of the project.
Kayiran said it’s important for the drills to operate on a 24-hour cycle so the wells don’t collapse on themselves, something that happened recently in Seal Beach, which opted for a 12-hour cycle, he said. That resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost time and the loss of the drill bit, Kayiran said.
The department has not finalized a construction start date but anticipates beginning the replacement of the existing well in the coming months and potentially starting work on the second well in the winter, with construction stretching into the spring. The projected completion date for all work is fall 2024, but construction will be limited to regular work hours after the initial drilling windows for both wells.
When construction of the project ends, the park will have more than just two new wells, the department said. Part of the project includes expanding the parking lot near the community center by about 15 spaces and, because 12 trees will be removed during construction, the department also plans to plant 24 new trees.
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