Quarterly Water Supply Strategy and
Budget Report
California-American Water Company Water
Distribution System: July – September 2005
June
20, 2005
1. Management
Objectives
The
District desires to maximize the long-term production potential and protect the
environmental quality of the Carmel River and Seaside Ground Water Basins. In addition, the District desires to
maximize the amount of water that can be diverted from the Carmel River Basin
and injected into the Seaside Ground Water Basin while complying with the
instream flow requirements recommended by the National Marine Fisheries Service
(NOAA Fisheries) to protect the Carmel River steelhead population. To accomplish these goals, a water supply
strategy and budget for production within the California American Water
(Cal-Am) water distribution system is reviewed quarterly to determine the
optimal strategy for operations, given the current hydrologic and system
conditions.
2. Quarterly
Water Supply Strategy: April - June 2005
On
June 6, 2005, staff from the District, Cal-Am, California Department of Fish and
Game (CDFG), and NOAA Fisheries discussed the proposed water supply strategy
and related topics for the remainder of June 2005 and the July-September 2005
period. Currently, Los Padres
Reservoir is full and spilling, Carmel River flow is approximately 60 cubic
feet per second (cfs) at the MPWMD gaging station at Don Juan Bridge in Garland
Park, and there is approximately 60 cfs flow in the Carmel River below river
mile 5.5.
Given
these “wet” hydrologic conditions, it was agreed that for the remainder of
June, Cal-Am's diversions from the upper Carmel Valley would be up to 1.5 cubic
feet per second (cfs), including combined production from the Russell Wells
Nos. 2 and 4 and other sources upstream of and including Scarlett Well No. 8. If feasible, Cal-Am could divert water from
its San Clemente Reservoir during this period. However, the feasibility of
diverting water at San Clemente Dam is constrained by water quality and
operations related to the San Clemente Reservoir Drawdown Project mandated by
the Department of Water Resources (DWR).
The proposed budget limits Cal-Am diversions to 0.5 cfs upstream of and
including Scarlett Well No. 8, when the streamflow recedes to 20 cfs for five
consecutive days at the MPWMD gaging station at Don Juan Bridge in Garland
Park.[1] During July-September 2005, the
proposed budget allows Cal-Am a net diversion of no more than approximately 30
AF from the Russell Wells Nos. 2 and 4. With the exception of the Upper Carmel
Valley, Cal-Am will operate its wells in the Lower Carmel Valley in a
downstream to upstream sequence, as needed to meet demand.
For
the Seaside Basin, it was agreed that in the July-September 2005 quarter,
Cal-Am will maximize production from the Seaside Basin wells with a goal of 550
AF per month. This will help conserve
aquatic habitats in the Carmel River and result in an annual withdrawal of
approximately 3,400 AF for Water Year 2005.
In conformance with the District’s temporary water appropriations permit
to divert water and inject it into the Seaside Basin, it is assumed that no
water will be diverted and injected during the June – September 2005 period.
Based
on the rainfall and runoff that occurred during the October-May 2005 period, it
was agreed that the projections for the upcoming quarter should be based on the
assumption that inflows will range into “wet year” levels during the budgeted
June through September 2005 period.
Based on this assumption and building on similar forecasts made for the
2005 Memorandum of Agreement, District staff projected monthly unimpaired
inflows at San Clemente Dam of 2,479, 1,071, 441 and 178 AF for the months of
June, July, August, and September 2005, respectively. These monthly inflows are
approximately equal to the 25% exceedance levels for these months, based on the
1902-2004 period of record. Table 1 shows a monthly breakdown of the
recommended diversion and release schedule under the projected inflow
conditions. Table 1 also shows
expected inflows, outflows, and storage volumes at Los Padres and San Clemente
Reservoirs for the July-September 2005 period.
It should be noted that there is some uncertainty regarding the runoff that will occur during the upcoming quarter and this uncertainty is compounded by the situation at San Clemente Dam and Reservoir, where Cal-Am is required to draw down San Clemente Dam. Based on the January 12, 2005 Biological Opinion for the Interim San Clemente Reservoir Drawdown Project by the NMFS and staff’s most recent projection of the daily flow recession, Cal-Am is likely to operate San Clemente Dam as follows:
1) The
reservoir will remain full at the spillway elevation of 525 feet from February
2, 2005 through June 26, 2005.
2) Drawdown of the reservoir from
elevation 525 to 515 feet will commence on or soon after June 27, pending three
consecutive days of 30 cfs or less, at the MPWMD gaging station at the Sleepy
Hollow Weir.
3) During the drawdown period from June 27 to possibly February 2, 2006, the reservoir releases may be modified, depending on the physical ability to release water while minimizing the turbidity of water released through the ports or any other passage.
U:\staff\word\boardpacket\2005\2005boardpackets\20050620\PublicHrgs\16\item16_exh16b.doc
6/17/2005 9:31 AM
[1] Limiting diversions to 0.5 cfs upstream
of Scarlett Well No. 8 is consistent with SWRCB Water Rights Order WR 2002-0002
and the 2002 Conservation Agreement between Cal-Am and the National Marine
Fisheries Service.