County Water Authority eliminates cutbacks

The San Diego County Water Authority board voted to eliminate cutbacks to member agencies and to agricultural users.

The April 28 board vote deactivates the SDCWA's Water Shortage and Drought Response Plan (WSDRP), discontinues the municipal and industrial (M&I) supply cutback allocations to member agencies, suspends the Special Agricultural Water Rate (SAWR) cutbacks through the program's December 31, 2012, termination date unless the WSDRP is reactivated prior to then, declares an end to the drought response levels contained in the CWA's Drought Response Conservation Program Ordinance, reaffirms efforts to continue conservation, and calls upon the State of California to provide a plan for the Bay Delta restoration necessary to transport water from Northern California.

"This year we've got good news," said Mitch Dion, the chair of the CWA's Water Planning Committee and the Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District representative on the CWA board.

A combination of a wetter than normal year and public acceptance of conservation initiatives led to demand being less than forecasted and also less than allocated.

"We've seen some real significant unforeseen improvements in our water supply," said CWA principal water resources specialist Dana Friehauf. "The program deliveries have continually been well below their actual targets."

The CWA receives imported water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Some of that water originates in Northern California and is transported as part of the State Water Project, and some of the MWD water is part of MWD's Colorado River allocation.

As of April 13 the Northern Sierra 8-Station Precipitation Index was 61.5 inches, or 142 percent of average for the water year. The statewide snow water equivalents as of April 26 were 180 percent of average, and the San Luis and Oroville reservoirs had a combined 5.03 million acre-feet of storage on April 13. In March the state's Department of Water Resources released water from Lake Oroville for flood control purposes for the first time since 2006, and the unimpaired runoff for the Feather River in Oroville is projected to be 134 percent of average for the current water year, which would be the highest level since 2006.

Each State Water Project partner, including MWD, has an allocation, but a percentage of that allocation based on supply availability is determined annually. The delivery which decreased from 100 percent of allocation for 2006 to 60 percent in 2007 to 35 percent during 2008 has increased to 40 percent in 2009 and 50 percent for 2010, and on April 20, 2011, MWD's delivery was increased to 80 percent of allocation. In June 2008 a proclamation of emergency was issued due to the statewide drought, and on March 30, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown declared an end to the proclamation of emergency based on improved hydrologic conditions.

Precipitation in the upper Colorado River basin has been 119 percent of average, and snowpack conditions are also 119 percent of average, which is the largest snowpack since 1997. The projected water year unregulated inflow into Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border is 109 percent of normal, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation expects to make 11.6 million acre-feet of releases from Lake Powell on the north side of Glen Canyon Dam to Lake Mead on the north side of Hoover Dam. Lake Mead is expected to rise approximately 30 feet higher than its historical low point of 1,082 feet which occurred last November.

"Water conditions have continued to be very favorable across the state and in the Colorado River basin," said CWA water resources specialist Lesley Dobalian. "There's still a lot of snow in the mountains and not a lot of snowmelt."

The cumulative precipitation from July 1 through April 13 at San Diego International Airport was 12.2 inches, or 120 percent of normal, while the year-to-date precipitation at Ramona Airport was 23.7 inches, or 153 percent of normal. "We've had a very wet and cool spring," Dobalian said.

As of March 31 the CWA had 37,889 acre-feet of dry-year storage in member agency reservoirs and another 16,117 acre-feet of dry-year storage in the Semitropic groundwater storage bank.

The CWA allocated all agencies 540,217.1 acre-feet of water for Fiscal Year 2010-11 while dividing the allocation based on a historical average. The Rainbow Municipal Water District was given 17,061.7 acre-feet, the Fallbrook Public Utility District was allocated 10,042.1 acre-feet, Camp Pendleton had an allocation of 753.0 acre-feet of CWA water, and the San Diego County portion of the South Coast Water District was allocated 691.6 acre-feet. As of March 31 the CWA had distributed 282,631.1 acre-feet, which is 52.3 percent of the total annual allocation and 119,504.3 acre-feet fewer than its to-date target, to its agencies. Rainbow's 8,329.1 acre-feet of usage through the end of March equates to 48.8 percent of the annual allocation and 3,903.4 acre-feet under the nine-month target amount, FPUD's 5,649.9 acre-feet of to-date usage constituted 56.3 percent of the annual allocation and 1,535.5 acre-feet less than the cumulative monthly targets, and Camp Pendleton's 40.4 acre-feet of imported water is 5.4 percent of the yearly allocation and 512.6 acre-feet less than the July-March target. The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, San Mateo Point housing on Camp Pendleton, and San Onofre State Park utilized 576.1 acre-feet of South Coast Water District imports from the CWA during the first nine months of Fiscal Year 2010-11, which is 83 percent of the total year's allocation and makes the district one of two CWA water recipients to be above its nine-month target (the Yuima Municipal Water District in Pauma Valley was also above its target).

In February 2009 the CWA board approved a percentage formula which utilized a three-year M&I demand average for each CWA member agency while making adjustments to reflect water conservation, loss of local supply from groundwater and storage reservoirs, and efforts taken to develop reliable local supplies.

The CWA's drought management plan includes various drought stages. In December 2007 the CWA declared implementation of Stage 2, which includes supply enhancement (such as execution of transfer agreements) and voluntary conservation programs. Stage 3 limits imported M&I water supply for each member agency to an allocation percentage, and the CWA approved such action in April 2009.

In March 2008 the CWA adopted a model Drought Response Conservation Program Ordinance which identifies four drought response levels to help achieve demand reduction during temporary shortages. Level 1, Drought Watch, involves a 10 percent voluntary conservation. Level 2, Drought Alert, calls for up to 20 percent mandatory conservation. Level 3, Drought Critical, provides for up to 40 percent mandatory conservation, and Level 4, Drought Emergency, implements mandatory conservation of more than 40 percent. In April 2008 the CWA approved a Level 1 notification, and Level 2 was implemented in April 2009.

The Level 2 model ordinance restrictions (the CWA merely reduces deliveries to member agencies, which can enact their own ordinances based on the CWA model ordinance or with other provisions) include a prohibition on washing down paved surfaces, a ban on runoff from excessive irrigation, and irrigation limits on hours, length of time, and number of days per week (drip irrigation is exempt). Hoses must have positive shutoff valves, leaks must be repaired within 72 hours of notification, ornamental fountain use is not allowed (the restrictions do not apply to recycled water), and restaurants cannot serve water except upon request.

The drought response ordinance also includes triggers on implementing its levels. Level 1 is activated when drought or other supply reduction leads to a reasonable probability of supply shortages which would require cutbacks of up 10 percent to have sufficient supplies, while Level 2 is triggered by cutbacks from drought or other supply reduction which would require cutbacks of up to 20 percent for sufficient supplies.

MWD implemented the Interim Agricultural Water Program (IAWP) in 1994, providing surplus MWD supplies to agricultural customers at a discounted rate but with conditions allowing for a reduction of up to 30 percent prior to implementing any mandatory reductions to M&I customers (an agricultural property could choose to pay the M&I rate and not be subject to agricultural cutbacks). MWD implemented that 30 percent reduction in January 2008.

In October 2008 the MWD board approved changes to phase out the IAWP over a four-year period, and later that month the CWA board approved a two-year transitional program for customers opting out of the IAWP which included discounts and cutback conditions. The CWA's action also formed a workgroup to review options for programs beyond the transitional period. In March 2010 the CWA board voted to continue the transitional SAWR program through December 2012 while providing a revised program from 2013 through 2015 with a review of that program prior to the beginning of 2016. The decision to continue the program included a requirement that program customers take at least a 13 percent cutback regardless of the MWD cutback level for M&I customers with at least a five percent differential between M&I and SAWR cutbacks (at the time SAWR customers had a 25 percent cutback and a 17 percent differential from M&I customers).

The SAWR allocation targets were updated to reflect customers opting out or entering into the SAWR program, but through March the 12 participating agencies used 12,492.1 acre-feet, or 42.3 percent of the full-year allocation of 29,590.4 and 8,682.6 acre-feet under target. The ten reporting agencies (including Yuima) were all under their nine-month targets. Rainbow's 2,933.1 acre-feet of SAWR usage equated to 43.5 percent of the annual allocated total of 6,739.7 acre-feet and 1,839.8 acre-feet less than the July-March target amount. FPUD used 1,457.8 acre-feet of SAWR water through March, which is 43.6 percent of the annual 3,343.0 acre-feet allocation and 948.0 acre-feet less than the to-date target.

As part of the phase-out of the IAWP, the cutback rate was reduced from 25 percent to 20 percent as of January 1, 2011. The IAWP is based on a calendar year allocation, and the CWA will have 37,676.2 acre-feet available for 2011. Rainbow used 245.5 acre-feet of its 4,746.1 acre-feet allocation by the end of March while FPUD used 144.9 acre-feet of its 4,621.8 acre-feet allocation.

"I do want to thank the farmers in the region for conserving water. Without them we couldn't have made it through," said Water Planning Committee vice-chair Javier Saunders, who is one of the City of San Diego's representatives on the CWA board.

The WSDRP language stipulates that a drought stage requires MWD to be experiencing shortages in its water supply and withdrawing water from storage due to drought conditions to meet normal demands. If water demand remains at current levels, MWD is not expected to withdraw water from storage for demand reasons through the end of Fiscal Year 2012-13, and this year MWD will place approximately 800,000 acre-feet into storage. The drought response level trigger is also no longer in effect, meriting the end of the Level 2 alert.

"I think that's wonderful for the agricultural community. They've done a fantastic job in exceeding the expectations of that program," said FPUD general manager Keith Lewinger, who is also FPUD's representative on the CWA board.

Two of the three farmers on the CWA board personally experienced IAWP cuts. Rainbow representative Gerald Walson grows avocados and Yuima representative Bill Knutson grows avocados, citrus, and nursery crops. (The third farmer is Frank Hilliker of the Lakeside Water District; the Hilliker family egg ranch is on well water and does not use IAWP supplies.)

"It's all self-evident," Walson said of the conservation which led to the end of the restrictions.

Knutson noted that farmers who stumped trees due to their IAWP cutbacks will continue to see reduced water usage from the decrease in their crops. "Most of the farmers have looked at long-term," he said. "They're still going to make their plans on the longer process."

The Helix Water District has no IAWP or SAWR customers, but that district has reduced per capita water usage to 107 gallons per day and Helix representative John Linden offered to share advice on how his district obtained that reduction. While the elimination of mandatory cutbacks sends a message to the public that those cutbacks were drought-related, CWA staff will continue conservation outreach programs. "I think what is going to be key is education," Friehauf said.

"We have to continue our diligence," Dion said. "We've got to continue to be on alert to make sure our water supply doesn't get challenged again."

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