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Home My WebLink About12 Water Supply and Drought Planenda Item # ACTION To: Board of Directors From: Steven Poncelet Date. March 01, 2017 Subject: Consideration of Water Supply and Drought Plan m 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD This item involves review of the newly extended California Emergency Drought Regulations and consideration of rescinding Stage 1 of Ordinance 2014-05, the District's Water Shortage Contingency Plan. 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 significant growth (Attachment 1). The District has also advocated and supported the development of robust science to understand our water resources and to determine the sustainable yield of the Martis Valley aquifer which is the District's main source of groundwater. This includes supporting decades of scientific 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 Martis Valley groundwater model and climate change modeling. More recently, the District hired GEI Consultants to certify the the Martis Valley Groundwater Basin has operated within it's sustainable yield as defined by California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) for a period of at least 10-years. 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 did not experience a water shortage at any time during the recent historic drought. The District, as required by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), has an Urban Water Management Plan (UWMP) which gets updated every 5-years. The last update was in 2016. 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 implementing 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 has had a half dozen agendized items over the last few years to respond to and comply with the California State Water Resources Control Board's (SWRCB's) 2014, 2015, and 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 the spring of 2016, Governor Brown and the SWRCB took action which extended the emergency drought regulations through January, 2017 and which kept in place the 9 prohibitions against wasting water. The District continued to enforce these restrictions while the drought emergency remained in effect. In addition, the SWRCB did follow the recommendation of the Urban Water Suppliers by rescinding the mandatory reduction targets and asked 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 could document full supplies over this time -frame, then the SWRCB would not require mandatory restrictions on outdoor irrigation with potable water. District staff completed the District's 2016 UWMP update and the District's current and projected future water demands were well below the current and projected water supply. Again, this assessment was 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 analyzed the potential impacts of three dry years using actual production and demand for 2013, 2014, and 2015 and again, found that the District has adequate water supplies by a large margin to cover this period. Based on this analysis of adequacy of water supply which was supplied to the SWRCB, the District's Board decided that mandatory water restrictions were not appropriate based on the fact that there was no water supply emergency. However, the Board did feel that a message of "conservation is no longer necessary" was not in the interest of the District, our customers, or the community and, as a result, rescinded the mandatory restrictions (Stage 4, Water Shortage Contingency Plan) and replaced it with Stage 1 (voluntary 10% reduction). It should be noted that our customers, during this entire period, responded very favorably to the State's pleas for emergency water conservation and the District was able to comply with the emergency regulations. 3. NEW INFORMATION On February 8, 2017, the SWRCB again extended its existing emergency drought regulations despite the historic wet winter most of the State is experiencing. The SWRCB decision maintains the current regulations for an additional 270 days and keeps in place the monthly reporting of water use and the prohibitions against wasting water such as watering lawns within 48-hours of measurable precipitation, hosing off sidewalks and driveways, or runoff from irrigation onto hard surfaces. The SWRCB took this action despite vigorous dissension from many of the State's water agencies based on the fact that the drought is or has been over for almost everyone and continuing to use emergency powers when one does not exist hurts our on -going message to always conserve water and is an abuse of power. The SWRCB did direct staff to revisit the decision in May after the end of the rainy season. The Truckee region has experienced a near record winter season with well above average snow pack and over 50" of rain in many places. All reservoirs are at flood control capacity, Lake Tahoe has hit its natural rim for the first time in seven years, and the region has experienced extensive water damage and flooding. The District continues to not experience a water supply shortage and current and projected water demand remains well below sustainable yield estimates. Based on the current overabundance of water in our region, Staff does not think that it would be appropriate to continue the activation of the District's Water Shortage Contingency Plan when no emergency exists locally and only a political emergency continues State-wide. Based on the information presented in this report, Staff is recommending that the Board rescind Stage 1 of the Water Shortage Contingency Plan (voluntary 10% reduction) and that the District get back to our every day water conservation efforts and messages. Staff are also recommending that we continue with our complaint process for alleged violations of the SWRCB's prohibitions against wasting water but that our formal, enforcement process be replaced with a a courtesy notice to our customers to ensure that they are aware of the on -going emergency drought regulations and the potential for fines. Should an actual enforcement effort be required, as before, the complainer would be directed to a 'Sworn Officer of the State' which includes Truckee Police and Code Compliance Officers. Staff will continue to track the emergency efforts of the SWRCB with the next potential action coming in May, 2017. 4. FISCAL IMPACT Rescinding the District's Water Shortage Contingency Plan and limiting the amount of resources needed to comply with the SWRCB's emergency drought regulations will reduce labor and other costs. However, the new emergency drought regulations were extended through October, 2017 and the District will need to continue to report monthly to the SWRCB and will continue to respond to complaints of alleged violations of the emergency drought regulations. Fiscal impacts from the 2014, 2015, and 2016 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 in the past were ~$100,000 per year. 5. RECOMMENDATION Direct the General Manager to rescind Stage 1 of Ordinance 2014-05 effective immediately. Steven Poncelet Public Information & Conservation Manager / 0. e?on�` Michael D. Holley General Manager