Santa Margarita project mentioned in ACWA Federal Projects meeting

The Association of California Water Agencies conference in San Diego November 29-December 2 included a Federal Projects Subcommittee meeting December 1 which featured a report from US Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John W. Keys III and mentioned the Santa Margarita River Conjunctive Use Project.

“We’re very active in working on a report and a study related to that,” said Bob Johnson, who is the regional director for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado River Region.

Johnson’s area includes Southern California. Kirk Rogers, who is the director of the Mid-Pacific Region which includes Northern California, also joined Keys.

“We have had, I would say, a couple of great successes this year,” Keys said.

The initial phases of the Federal government’s Water 2025 initiative were approved by Congress. “Water 2025 is a program that we have seen great success on,” Keys said.

Currently rural water projects are authorized one at a time, and the Bureau of Reclamation has little input. “Under the new program we will be there working with these folks from Day 1,” Keys said. “That will, we think, take pressure off the budget in other areas.”

The US Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for flood control projects, and the Bureau of Reclamation is working with the ACE on the Folsom Dam project. In Northern California and Southern Oregon the Bureau of Reclamation is working on the Klamath River situation. “We’re taking one step at a time,” Keys said.

The Bureau of Reclamation was also directed by Congress to be reimbursed $10 million for guards and surveillance costs. “There’s a lot of changes at the department right now,” Keys said.

Additional reimbursement will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Disaster relief is the responsibility of FEMA, but if FEMA cannot handle portions of that relief itself it seeks assistance from the Army Corps of Engineers. If the ACE needs help the Bureau of Reclamation is next in line.

During Hurricane Katrina the Bureau of Reclamation was asked for water treatment assistance on August 30. The Bureau of Reclamation has an experimental but functional desalination plant in New Mexico, and by September 2 the plant was in Biloxi, MS. On September 3 the plant was producing 200,000 gallons per day, and Gulf of Mexico water was being treated to drinkable water standards.

The National Rural Water Association wants to purchase four of those plants and station them across the United States. “That’s a real success story for us,” Keys said.

In April 2005 the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program was approved. “It’s a big deal,” Keys said. “I think the future of the river depends on the success of that program.”

The agreements between the US Department of the Interior, the states of California, Arizona and Nevada and water and power providers from those three states include a funding arrangement in which the Federal government will pay for half of the acquisition and management cost, which over 50 years is estimated at $626 million in 2003 dollars, while the non-Federal entities will share the remaining half.

“It’s a good deal for all of us,” Keys said. “It lets us continue the operation of that system. It gives protection to those three states.”

The Bureau of Reclamation is also looking at new storage in California: the possible new Sites Reservoir, a raise of the Shasta capacity, enlarging Los Vaqueros, and storage in the upper San Joaquin Valley. “These are good projects and we’re certainly putting a lot of attention into those areas,” Keys said.

The Bureau of Reclamation is also in the first six months of an 18-month study on new or expanded power facilities. “I think it’s a great opportunity for us to look at something that can be done,” Keys said.

Keys clarified, however, that the Bureau of Reclamation focuses on projects which provide water rather than power. “If you can generate power with it, that’s great,” he said.

Rogers provided comments on the CALFED Delta project. “We’re going to be there,” he said. “Reclamation is going to continue to be a strong partner.”

Keys also noted that the Bureau of Reclamation is working to advance desalination technology. Desalination covers both seawater desalination and brackish water desalination, and one project involves brackish water in the Missouri River.

“The desal area, we think, has a great future,” Keys said.

Keys also mentioned the Quanitification Settlement Agreement, which transfers Imperial Irrigation District water to the San Diego County Water Authority and will involve lining two Imperial County canals. “I think things are coming together in the basin,” Keys said. “We are trying to pull all that together.”