The High Desert Water Bank is a partnership multi-benefit project between AVEK and the Metropolitan Water Distrct (MWD) created for the shared goal of water supply reliability. It allows MWD to store State Water Project supplies in the Antelope Valley groundwater basin. At 280,000 acre-feet, the water bank’s capacity is comparable in size to Castaic Lake.

AVEK has completed the construction of the stage 1 recharge basins, which are approximately 40 percent of the total recharge area; 10 recovery wells; five monitoring wells; and the turn-in/turn-out facilities from the California Aqueduct. AVEK is currently building the stage 2 recharge basins and over the next couple of years will construct 17 additional recovery wells for a total of 27 wells and an arsenic treatment facility. The project will be fully operational in 2027. 

•Annual recharge and recovery: 70,000 AF

•Total storage: 280,000 AF