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HomeMy WebLinkAbout13 Water Supply and Drought PlanJ A ACTION To: Board of Directors From: Steven Poncelet Date: June 01, 2016 Subject: Consideration of Water Supply and Drought Plan 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD This item involves Board certification of adequacy of the District's water supply and consideration of changing mandatory restrictions on outdoor watering with potable water based on recent action by the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) regarding emergency drought regulations. 2. HISTORY The District has a long history of strong stewardship of our water resources and on promoting the benefits of conserving water before, during, and after a drought. The District has aggressively installed water meters well before the California mandate, fixed leaks in our water Distribution system, and delivered conservation programs to our customers. This has resulted in a reduction in water production of over 40% since 2006 during a period of signficant growth (Attachment 1). The District has also advocated and supported the development of robust science to understand how the aquifer functions and to understand the sustainable yield of the Martis Valley aquifer which is the District's main source of groundwater. This includes supporting decades of studies and playing a key role in the United States Bureau of Reclamation's Truckee River Basin study which includes a state-of-the-art groundwater model and climate change modeling. The significant body of science indicates that current water production is still a small fraction of recharge and sustainable yield and future supplies are projected to be well above build -out projections. The District, as required by the California Department of Water Resources, has an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) which gets updated every 5-years. The main function of UWMP's is to document current and future water supplies and match them against current and future demands. The UWMP includes a Water Shortage Contingency Plan and implementation of District Ordinance(s). These are some of the tools that the District has in place to respond to water shortages or emergency drought regulations. The District's Board had many meetings over the last few years to review and implement the SWRCB's 2014, 2015, 2016 emergency drought regulations. These regulations had a series of prohibitions against the waste of water which apply to all Californian's. The prohibitions against waste that remain in effect today include: • Waste of potable water in irrigation systems from runoff; • Washing a motor vehicle with potable water from a hose that does not have a shut-off valve; • Application of potable water to driveways and sidewalks; • Use of potable water in a fountain/water feature that does not recirculate, • The application of potable water to outdoor landscapes during and up to 48 hours after measurable rainfall; • The serving of drinking water other than upon request in eating or drinking establishments; • Option of not choosing to have towels and linens laundered daily in hotels or motels; • Irrigating outside new construction not in accordance with regulations or codes; and • Irrigating turf on public street medians. In late 2015, Govenor Brown again extended California's drought emergency and directed the SWRCB to adopt new 2016 emergency drought regulations. The SWRCB solicited feedback from the public and took action in February, 2016 to continue the emergency drought regulations with only minor changes. The new impacts to the District from the 2016 SWRCB emergency drought regulations included: • 25% Conservation Target; • Compliance period from March, 2016 through October, 2016; • On -going prohibitions against wasting water; and • On -going notification, regulatory reporting, and enforcement requirements. To comply with the SWRCB 25% conservation target, the District Board took the following action and recommendations: • Continue with Stage 4 of Ordinance No. 2014-05 and define the 2-day per week restriction on outdoor irrigation as follows: residential customers only on Tuesday's and Friday's; non-residential Customer's only on Mondays and Thursday's; • Continue to consider petitions for hardship from commercial, non -ornamental landscapes users to be given a target in lieu of the prescriptive restriction; • Continue to promptly notify customers of continuous flow alarms and promote prompt action to fix customer leaks; and • Continue to promote the District's "Watch Your Water" campaign. However, Governor Brown did also direct the SWRCB to evaluate the status of the drought at the end of April, 2016 and to take action at their May 18, 2016 meeting if the situation has gotten significantly better or worse. This winter, has been well documented, has been fairly wet for much of the State and many regions are no longer experiencing a water shortage. There was mounting pressure on the SWRCB to relax or remove restriction on water use for regions that are not experiencing a water supply shortage (which has included the Truckee -Tahoe region since the beginning but which now includes numerous regions across California). 3. NEW INFORMATION The SWRCB solicited feedback from Urban Water Suppliers and others in April and early May, 2016 regarding potential changes to the emergency drought regulations given the current hydrologic conditions. The overwhelming feedback, including from the District, our Martis Valley Groundwater partners, and many others in the Truckee. Tahoe region, was that many regions have adequate water supply and that there is no basis for continuing emergency regulations. The water agencies proposed rescinding the mandatory reduction targets and allowing each Urban Water Supplier to self - certify the adequacy of supply and to take appropriate action regarding mandatory restrictions. The water agencies pointed out that each agency was in the process of completing the 5-year update of the UWMP's due in July, 2016 so we all had the data readily available to accurately match water supply and demand. The end result would be a lifting of the mandatory restrictions on outdoor watering with potable water which would be replaced by action by the local Urban Water Suppliers based on local conditions and needs. The SWRCB, at their May 18th meeting, took action which extended the emergency drought regulations through January, 2017 and which kept in place the 9 prohibitions against wasting water which were listed earlier in this docket and which can be found on the District's website at www.tdpud.org, The District will continue to enforce these restrictions while the drought emergency remains in effect. In addition, the SWRCB did follow the recommendation of the Urban Water Suppliers by rescinding the mandatory reduction targets and asking the local agencies to self -certify the adequacy of supply and take the appropriate actions. The SWRCB directed that this self - certification start with current water supply condition and then evaluate the adequacy of supply using actual water supply and demand for a three dry year period (2013, 2014, and 2015) going forward. If an Urban Water Supplier can document full supplies over this time -frame, then the SWRCB would not require mandatory restrictions on outdoor irrigation with potable water. The SWRCB does not need to approve the self -certification or the actions taken by local Urban Water Suppliers but the SWRCB did reserve the right to reject the self -certifications and actions that do not meet specified criteria. The new SWRCB emergency drought regulations take effect on June 1st and run through January, 2017. The self -certifications and actions taken by the local Urban Water Suppliers can take effect immediately but must be presented to the SWRCB by June 22, 2016. District staff have completed the District's 2016 UWMP update and the Board has had multiple meetings on this subject and are scheduled to adopt the new plan at the June 11 2016 meeting. As presented in the 2016 UWMP, the District's current and projected future water demands are well below the current and projected water supply. Again, this assessment is based on a significant amount of scientific data on the annual recharge and sustainable yield of the Martis Valley groundwater basin. In addition, District staff have analyzed the potential impacts of three dry years using actual production and demand for 2013, 20147 and 2015 and again, have found that the District has adequate water supplies by a large margin to cover this period. This is based on production data and groundwater levels for the District's production and CASGEM wells in the Martis Valley groundwater basin for a period covering 2006-2015 (see Attachment 2). Based on this analysis of adequacy of water supply, District staff does not see a justification to maintain mandatory water restrictions when there is no water supply emergency. However, staff does feel that a message of "Conservation is no longer necessary" is not in the interest of the District, our customers, or the community. Staff, as a result, is recommending that the District rescind the current mandatory restrictions (Stage 4, Water Shortage Contingency Plan) and replace this with Stage 1 (voluntary 10% reduction). By taking this action, the District will still be sending a strong message to save water and keep enforcement powers in play should they be needed. Along with the voluntary 10% reduction, District Staff will also have a very robust communications and outreach effort to educate our customers about the change in emergency drought restrictions and the benefits of conserving water. One key message will be a voluntary request to only water every other day since this is adequate for the vast majority of the irrigated landscapes in our service territory. 4. FISCAL IMPACT Removing the mandatory restrictions will have some fiscal benefit to the District due to reduced communications and enforcement activities. However, the new emergency drought regulations were extended through January, 2017 and the District will need to continue to report monthly to the SWRCB and will continue to do enforcement for the remaining restrictions. Fiscal impacts from the 2014 & 2015 emergency drought regulations included costs to implement and enforce (staff time, web -work, all -customer mailer) along with decreased District revenue due to mandatory conservation. Fiscal impacts for the new emergency drought regulations are projected to be less. It is estimated that the labor and direct cost to comply with the SWRCB's emergency drought regulations are �$100,000 per year. 5. RECOMMENDATION 1) Accept staffs self -certification analysis and direct the General Manager to submit a self -certification form to the CEC based on the data presented with this Action Item. 2) Direct the General Manager to rescind Stage 4 of Ordinance 2014-05 and replace it with Stage 1 (voluntary 10% reduction) effective immediately. Steven Poncelet Public Information &Conservation Manager Michael D. Holley General Manager Attachment 1 TDPUD Annual Water Production 8000 238.5 7000 270.9 274.6 338A 000 603.1 635.7 840.8 LL N 5000 548.9 i ' 699.1 CJ Q 4000 5822I 3000 2000 -- - 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Production Year � Potable Water 'Non-P®table Wells 100 300 U f6 L c 400 L Q. a� 500 v m v 600 700 Attachment 2 TDPUD Well Levels (Martis Valley Groundwater Basin) ,�° titi atiti titi �titi ti� �titi titititi ti� �tii �� ti° �ti°` �� ° ti� �y� tih ti� �ti° e� �a Q�aO �o ��� `Sa Q�° �a� Q� ��� p� fat` Q� >�� p� �z� QQ ��� p� lac QQ ��� p� lac Q� Airport Well - Fiberboard Well Glenshire Dr Well Martis Valley Well Old Greenwood Prosser Village Well Prosser Heights Well Prosser Annex Well Sanders Well