When one basin is being cleaned, the supply to other basins is maintained by means of bypass pipelines. A twice-yearly cleaning cycle, which has replaced a single annual cleaning, increases percolation by as much as 40 percent. Water diverted to Burris Pit during heavy rains is pumped through 4.5 miles of pipeline to the district's Santiago Creek recharge facility for storage and percolation. Up to 90,000 gallons per minute can be transferred via this pumping system. The Santiago Creek recharge basin, the district's newest, has a capacity of 13,000 acre-feet.
Prevention plays an important role in solving the problem of clogging.
A flocculation system at the Imperial headgates is being considered which could coagulate suspended solid particles so that they will settle out of the water as it passes through a series of desilting ponds. Three of these ponds between Imperial Highway and Lakeview Avenue help reduce the sediment load in water that is diverted to the recharge basins. This slows the formation of a clogging layer and thereby helps to maintain efficient percolation. OCWD's hydrogeologists are carrying out extensive explorations in order to determine the structures and mechanisms that affect the district's natural subterranean reservoir. Special wells drilled to depths as great as 2,000 feet are equipped with monitoring devices that reveal the pathways of groundwater migration, the dynamics of the recharge process, and potential new sources of water.