Brackish Groundwater Problem, Rancho Santa Fe, California

The Problem: Properties within the San Dieguito Valley estuary and closer to the Pacific Ocean have brackish groundwater. This water is not potable for drinking water. It’s too salty for watering plants. However, a number of property owners in the Rancho Santa Fe area have installed groundwater wells with the intent of private use. In time, they unfortunately discovered that saline brackish water could kill their grass lawns and landscape. We were contacted by an area property owner to solve their well’s brackish water problem so their lawn could be watered.

Our Solution: We installed metal rods in a grid pattern into the underground groundwater around the private well. Each rod was capped with electrical wiring. This was routed to a master switchboard. Electricity was injected into the underground brackish water by the metal rods. The electrified brackish water was deionized to cause its dissolved salt content to drop out. The electrified decreased salt suspension was related to the decrease in total dissolved solids (TDS). This caused the TDS to drop from 3,500 mg/L (brackish water quality) to 1,200 mg/L (water quality for plants).

The Benefit: The improved water quality supply enabled safe watering of the yard and plants.