EMWD relaxes drought water use regulations

PERRIS – Eastern Municipal Water District announced it is moving into Stage 1 of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan Wednesday, April 19, after record-setting rain and snowfall throughout the state this winter helped reverse California’s historic drought conditions.

EMWD had been in Stage 3a of its Water Shortage Contingency Plan since November 2021. In Stage 3a, EMWD suspended variances for filling swimming pools and establishing new landscaping and asked customers for a voluntary 25% reduction in water use.

In Stage 1, EMWD customers will be asked to continue with a voluntary reduction in water use of 10%.

At no time during the recent historic drought were residential water budgets reduced.

“We want to thank our customers for their proactive commitment to water use efficiency and doing their part to help stretch our state’s water supplies during these unprecedented times,” EMWD Board President Phil Paule said. “EMWD customers have for more than a generation been leaders in using water efficiently, and we have no doubt they will continue to embrace that lifestyle choice many have adopted years ago.”

After the driest three-year stretch on record resulted in record-low reservoir levels, the winter of 2022-2023 brought more than a dozen atmospheric river storms that blanketed the state in rain and snow. The result is a record snowpack and the state lifting emergency drought declarations for most areas.

EMWD said it avoided imposing cuts to water budgets because it was proactive in investing in a diverse water supply portfolio. Investments in recycled water, local groundwater and groundwater desalination, were critical toward ensuring water supply reliability during periods of reduced rain and snowfall.

EMWD’s commercial, industrial and institutional customers will still see reduced outdoor water budgets for areas with nonfunctional turf.

EMWD is supportive of long-term state efforts to prohibit the irrigation of ornamental turf with drinking water. Nonfunctional turf is grass that provides no active recreational benefit, such as areas in front of shopping centers or in median landscaping.

EMWD is also encouraging customers to continue investing in replacing their grass with climateappropriate landscaping and water efficient devices, such as weatherbased irrigation controllers, through its Landscapes for Living program, http://landscapesforliving.emwd.

MWD to investigate Colorado River delivery alternatives

Joe Naiman Writer

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California obtains water from the Colorado River Aqueduct which transports water from Parker to Lake Mathews and from the State Water Project which brings water from Oroville to Lake Skinner. Each State Water Project contractor has an allocation, but a percentage of that SWP allocation based on supply availability is determined annually by the state Department of Water Resources.

The Colorado River Aqueduct is not currently subject to allocation, but much of MWD’s service area does not have access to CRA supply. The MWD board meeting Tuesday, April 11, authorized an amendment to an existing agreement with Brown and Caldwell to investigate potential modifications to MWD’s existing east-west conveyance and distribution system. Brown and Caldwell, which is headquartered in Irvine, will be paid an additional $475,000 for the study.

Last year MWD staff began studying alternatives to increase the flexibility of MWD’s existing conveyance and distribution system to enable deliveries of alternative water supplies to the MWD member agencies dependent on State Water Project supply. A professional services contract with a low enough value to be issued under the MWD general manager’s authority was initiated to accelerate the early work on the study. The progress now allows detailed investigations to take place. MWD’s Colorado River Aqueduct distribution system was originally constructed in the 1930s and took advantage of topography to allow gravity to move water through the system. While much of MWD’s service area can access both CRA and SWP supply, some portions of the MWD system have limited or no access to CRA water and other stored supplies due to limitations inherent within the current system configuration. An east-west conveyance solution will provide additional connectivity of the current SWP-dependent areas to CRA supplies and existing storage such as Diamond Valley Lake. The east-west conveyance studies will develop and evaluate multiple options to improve the western areas’ ability to access supply from the CRA, Diamond Valley Lake, MWD’s indirect potable reuse program, and other regional sources. Options for improved east-west conveyance may include

MWD authorizes treatment surcharge credit for WMWD

Joe Naiman

Writer

A maintenance shutdown which took longer than expected has forced the Western Municipal Water District to purchase treated water at a higher price, so the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will be providing Western with a credit for the treatment surcharge.

The MWD board approved a credit of up to $200,000 during the board’s Thursday, April 13, meeting. The $200,000 is a maximum estimate, and the actual credit will be dependent on the schedule for completing the repairs to the distribution system.

Currently six CWA pipelines carry water along the San Diego Aqueduct from MWD’s Robert A. Skinner Water Treatment Plant in Temecula. Pipelines 1, 2, and 4 convey treated water while Pipelines 3, 5 and 6 deliver untreated supply. Pipeline 6 currently carries untreated water for seven miles from Lake Skinner to Anza Road and De Portola Road; the southern portion which would serve San Diego County is not expected to be needed in the near future so that part of the project has been deferred. The Western Municipal Water District purchases untreated water from MWD which is conveyed through Pipeline 5.

The Western Municipal Water District is a wholesale agency as well as a retail agency and provides retail water sales of MWD supply to the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and to the Rancho California Water District. Pipeline 5 includes Service Connection WR34, which Western uses for delivery to the Rancho California Water District. Rancho Water uses that supply to meet its legal requirement to discharge flows to Murrieta Creek, which meets a Cooperative Water Resource Management Agreement between Rancho Water and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and meets discharges required by the watermaster in the Santa Margarita Watershed adjudication.

MMD has been delivering water to San Diego County since 1947. The San Diego Aqueduct conveys water to a delivery point six miles south of the Riverside County line, which allowed MWD and the San Diego County Water Authority to provide equal contributions for the connection between MWD’s Colorado River Aqueduct and the San Vicente Reservoir in Lakeside.

The SDCWA has an annual Aqueduct Operating Plan which is used as a planning element to optimize the delivery, treatment, and storage of water in the CWA’s service area by facilitating coordination and communication among the CWA, CWA member agencies and MWD.

The Aqueduct Operating Plan includes a summary of scheduled shutdowns or outages which impact delivery of treated or untreated water, pump station operating schedules and member agency major maintenance information.

The CWA planned a shutdown for Pipeline 5, so MWD utilized that shutdown period to inspect and make minor repairs to the two Red Mountain Pressure Control Structure sleeve valves. The inspection revealed that the two sleeve valves had extensive deterioration and needed to be refurbished completely. That work took significantly longer than MWD initially anticipated, and MWD was not able to deliver water to Western through Pipeline 5. The shutdown period, which was originally from Oct. 16 to Nov. 9, was extended until March 10 while MWD refurbished and reinstalled one of the sleeve valves and fabricated a new bulkhead to take the place of the other sleeve valve temporarily. Western and Rancho Water had both prepared themselves for the planned shutdown. The four-month extension of the shutdown resulted in MWD asking Western to take treated water deliveries from Pipeline 4. It required Western to incur the cost of MWD’s treatment surcharge.

The potential $200,000 credit is the maximum authorized amount. The current estimate is $173,632.12 with the actual amount to be determined once financial information is finalized and reconciled. Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia. com expansion of the planned Sepulveda and Venice pump stations, expansion of the Greg Avenue Pump Station in the GlendaleBurbank area, construction of new east-west conveyance pipelines, improvements to existing pipelines or a combination of those possibilities. The detailed investigations will include in-depth studies to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of options identified in the preliminary investigation.

Near-term activities will be conducted with a hybrid effort of consultant and MWD staff who will conduct hydraulic analyses, participate in analysis of project options, review consultant work, facilitate meetings between member agencies and the consultant, and perform overall project management. During the study MWD staff will also coordinate with member agencies through a series of workshops. MWD staff will update the board on the progress of the work and provide a recommended course of action following the completion of the study. The Brown and Caldwell activities will include conceptual

“EMWD will continue to invest in local water supply projects and support statewide infrastructure investments and policies that will further prepare us all for the extreme weather cycles that we will face.” level alternative development and evaluations, development of evaluation criteria, mitigation strategies for pressure and flow impacts to existing MWD pipelines, facility siting investigations including right of way requirements, coordination with local power providers, development of conceptual cost estimates and preparation of workshops with member agencies to collaborate on project development.

Submitted by Eastern Municipal Water District.

Historic winter storms have provided much needed relief to California’s water supplies. Valley News/Courtesy photo org/ “Our customers have supported the necessary infrastructure investments in local water supply projects, such as our industryleading recycled water program and the expansion of our groundwater desalination facilities,” Paule said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at jnaiman@reedermedia. com